DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 394 414 HE 029 108

AUTHOR Higbee, Jeanne L., Ed.; Dwinell, Patricia L., Ed.TITLE Architects of the Future. Selected Conference Papers,

Volume 1. National Association for DevelopmentalEducation Annual Conference Proceedings (19th,Chicago, Illinois, February 22-26, 1995).

INSTITUTION National Association for Developmental Education.PUB DATE Feb 95NOTE 48p.

PUB TYPE Collected Works Conference Proceedings (021)

EDRS PRICE MFOI/PCO2 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Art Education; Biology; *Compensatory Education;

*Developmental Programs; Higner Education; *High RiskStudents; Learning Disabilities; MathematicsInstruction; Reading Instruction; *RemedialInstruction; Remedial Mathematics; *RemedialPrograms; Science Instruction; Special NeedsStudents; Writing Instruction

ABSTRACTThis conference proceedings publication addresses

issues in developmental education at the postsecondary level. Papersincluded are: "Developmental Studies Teachers to RetentionSpecialists: Assets, Not Liabilities" (Carol H. Bader); "Primary andSecondary Orientation Support for One Underrepresented Group" (AllenR. Barlow and Kerri Heavens); "Magazines in Developmental Writing: AnInnovative Reading-Writing Connection" (Sandra Karnei Chumchal);"Summary of the Final Report of the American Mathematical Associationof Two Year Colleges: Standards for Developmental and IntroductoryCollege Mathematics" (Betsy Darken); "Effects of Testirg Methods onOutcomes in Developmental Algebra" (Jeanette W. Glover); "BreakingDown the Barriers" (Ellen Hendrix et al.); "A Fair Chance for All"(Trevor Hulme and Allen R. Barlow); "Academic Probation: A Road toAcademic Success" (Marjorie L. Illingworth); "Arts Internships asTransition Space for Students At Risk" (Linda Adler Kassner andTerence Collins); "Tutor Training Enhanced By Knowledge of TuteeExpectations" (Joan L. Krabbe and Mark A. Krabbe) ; "SupplementalInstruction in Biology at the College Level" (Ofra N. Peled and AnnaC. Kim); "Building Mathematical Understanding: From Counting toChaos" (Patrick Perdew et al.); "Educating the Postsecondary Studentwith Learning Disabilities" (Linda Schnapp); "Integration of BasicComposition and Reading" (Caroline Stern); "Activities to PromoteAchievement Among Mathematics Students" (Pamela V. Thomas and JeanneL. Higbee); "Developing Experiential Learning Assignments forComposition Courses" (Edna M. Troiano); "Supplemental Instruction'sImpact on Affect: A Follow-Up and Expansion" (Julia N. Visor et al.);

"Mathematics Survival: A Linked Course" (Gideon L. AP;nstein); and"Student's World: A Writing Assignment" (Annette C. Williams).(Individual papers contain references.) (NAV)

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TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)

Selected Conference Papers

National Association for Developmental Education

Volume 1

Chicago, IllinoisFebruary 22-26, 1995

Editors:Jeanne L. Higbee and Patricia L. Dwinell

The University of Georgia

3

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Editorial Board

Eleanor A3newGeorgia Southern-University

Josette AhleringCentral Missouri State University

Carol AtnipUniversity of Louisville

David BusekistSoutheastern Louisiana University

Sandra ChumchalBlinn College

Steve CobleTennessee Technology University

Deanna CulbertsonDouglas MacArthur State Technical College

Dorothy FancherAlpena Community College

Meredith GildrieAustin Peay State University

Jeanette GloverUniversity of Memphis

Aftab HassanBetz Scientific Research Division

Margaret HaySouthwestern Michigan College

Barbara HenryWest Virginia State College

Bonnie HodgeAustin Peay State University

Marjorie IllingworthUniversity of Alaska, Fairbanks

Lee Brewer JonesDt.Kalb College

Patricia McClureWest Virginia State College

Dorothy C. MolliseUniversity of-Southern Alabama

Robert NelsonRutgers University

Emily Miller PayneSouthwest Texas State University

Jennie Preston-SabinAustin Peay State University

Patrick PerdewAustin Peay State University

Patricia PriceGeorgia Southern University

Lynda L. RiedaschAlpena Community College

Ruth SalterValdosta State University

Linda Schnapploward Community College

Jacqueline SimonRider University

Charles "Ed" SmithRoane State Community College

Caroline SternFerris State University

Andrew ThomasTennessee Technical University

Pamela ThomasUniversity of Georgia

Jo Fitzsimmons WarnerEastern Michigan University

Gideon WeinsteinIndiana University, Bloomington

Virginia YoungCntral Nlissouri State University

Special thanks to Betty Davis and Thomas Couillardfor their clerical and technical support.

SEI ECTED CONFERENCE PAPERS, 1995

Table of Contents

Developmental Studies Teachers to Retention Specialists: Assets, Not Liabilities 1

Carol H. Bader

Primary & Secondary Orientation Support for One Underrepresented Group 3Allen R. Barlow Kerri Heavens

Magazines in Developmental Writing: An Innovative Reading-Writing Connection 5

Sandra Karnei Chumchal

Summary of the Final Report of the American Mathematical Association of Two Year Colleges:Standards for Developmental and Introductory College Mathematics 7

Betsy Darken

Effects of Testing Methods on Outcomes in Developmental Algebra 9Jeanette W. Glover

Breaking Down the Barriers 11

Ellen Hendrix Olivia Carr Edenfield Kathy Albertson

A Fair Chance for All 13Trevor Hu lme Allen R. Barlow

Academic Probation: A Road to Academic Success 16Marjorie L. Illingworth

Arts Internships as Transition Space for Students at Risk 18Linda Adler Kassner Terence Collins

Tutor Training Enhanced By Knowledge Of Tutee Expectations 21Joan L.-Krabbe Mark A. Krabbe

Supplemental Instruction in Biology at the College Level 23Ofra N. Pe led Anna C. Kim

Buildin Mathematical Understanding: From Counting to Chaos 25I atrick Perdew Jennie Preston-Sabin Bonnie NI. I-lodge

Educating the Postsecondary Student with Learning Disabilities 27Linda Schnapp

Integration of Basic Composition and Reading 29Caroline Stern

Activities to Promote Achievement among Mathematics Students 32Pamela V. Thomas Jeanne L. Higbee

Developing Experiential Learning Assignments for Composition Courses 34Edna M. Troiano

Supplemental Instruction's Impact on Affect: A Follow-up and Expansion 36Julia N. Visor James J. Johnson Andrea NI. SchollaertCynthia A. Good Mojab Debra Davenport

Mathematics Survival: A Linked Course 38Gideon L. Weinstein

Student's World: A Writing Assignment 41Annette C. Williams

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Developmental Studies Teachers to Retention Specialists:Assets, Not Liabilities

Carol H. Bader

Abstract

infOrmation for changing perceptions of developmental educators from negatives to positives is discussed. Included in the

information are (a) methods Of demonstrating that developmental studies is cost effective, (1,) watts to lu'lp educators to be

perceived as scholars. and (C) strategies for pursuing awards iind certifications.

Often developmental educators are viewed asliabilities. We can change the perception fromliabilities to assets if we are proactive in

becoming "retention specialiis." One of the primarytasks we must undert.uce is to convince our adminis-trators, politicians, ar d the public that developmentaleducation is cost effective.

First, we can be convincing by using statisticalinformation. We must collect data that applies to ourstudents. Such data would include the following: (a)retention data on students in deveiopmental studies,(b) their graduation rates compared to students not indevelopmental education, (c) a profile of the. develop-mental education student at the institution, and (d)data on how well developmental studies students doin college level courses compared with those studentsnot in developmental studies.

Then we must take responsibility to disseminatethe data. This information should be shared with asmany interested people as feasible. A listing oi possi-ble candidates includes all developmental studies fac-ulty and counselorslll institutional deans, vice-presi-dents, other directors of developmental studies withinthe state, the departmental publicity officei who isresponsible for sending information to the public rela-tions director, the departmental historian who keeps ascrapbook and takes pictures for the department eachyear, thc university retention task force, state politi-cians-md state governing hoards.

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We must analyze and demonstrate that moneyspent in the developmental studies budget increasesretention and ultimately becomes mune: .wested,wasted. In fact, at our institution for every dollarinvested in developmental studies, approximately510.30 is directly returned to the university in tuition

n d state generated funds. Effective developmentalstudies programs also benefit institutions in indirectways. For example, our program employs approxi-mately 50 student workers/peer tutors and 14 gradu-ate students.

We must create ways to help developmental edu-cators be perceived as scholars and full partners with-in the institution. It is incumbent upon the director toencourage the faculty to be professionally active.Developmental educators must meet a rigorous stan-dard of professional involvement, inauding presenta-tions and publications. Our department prints a "Yearin Review" paper annually that highlights all theaccomplishments within the department. Facultymembers and counselors must keep detailed andaccurate records of all presentations, publications,grants, workshops, in-services and other professionalactivities. Aggressive self-promotion is a necessitywhen faculty publish textbooks, develop in-housemanuals, or earn higher degrees.

Developmental studies personnel have to be tena-cious in looking for ways to serve the university andthe community. Even though university committeeservice can sometimes be tedious, it offers a goldenopportunity for developmental studies faculty to net-

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work university-wide. Volunteer to be the chairper-son. It is in our best interest to attend those retirementdinners, awards ceremonies, and other functions out-side our own departments. We should pursue advis-ing student organizations, guest lecturing in otherpeople's classes, teaching continuing education cours-es, and helping with the professional testing on cam-pus.

Additionally, developmental educators must seekout grants for the department through university,state, and national sources. Our department has beensuccessful in obtaining grants to bring in leaders suchas Jane Jarrow, John Langan, Paul Nolting, SusanMandel Glazer, and others. We have also been able tosponsor regional workshops on topics such as portfo-lio assessment, learning disabilities, math manipula-fives, graphing calculators, personality type, adultlearners, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Community service is another way to make -I eve.-opmental studies viable component of the institu-tion. We have had much success with the followingcommunity service projects: testing the eves of ele-mentary school children without telebi:iocular; creat-ing a network with all high schools in the county forliaison purposes; presenting Attention DeficitDisorder workshops at local schools; speaking at localorganizations (such as Cie county Gifted and TalentedParent Organization); presenting Americans with dis-abilities workshops to the community; creating work-shops with the senior citizen homes for genealogicaljournal writing; donating hooks to nursing homes andadult literacy programs; volunteering with adult basiceducation programs; advising troubled teen groups;donating old equipment to public schools; and recy-cling old notebooks and folders to school systems. Inshort, take advantage of every public service opportu-nity that presents itself.

Third, developmental educators must continuallyapply for and earn awards and certifications. Tobegin this process, the developmental studies facultymust become very active in state developmental orga-niz-itions, then national developmental organizations,and finally in the other related national organizationssuch as the International Reading Association (IRA),National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE),College Reading Association (CRA), NationalAcademic Advising Association (NAAA), NationalCouncil of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), CollegeReading and Learning Association (CR1.A), AmericanCollege Personnel Association (ACPA), and theAssociation on I ligher Education and Disability(Al WAD).

We can bring prestige and positive publicity toour departments by earning certifications and nation-al awards. Some of the certifications that have helpedour image include CRLA Tutor Certification, KelloggInstitute Certification, Professional Certification forSecretaries, and Laubach Literacy Certification.Awards that have elevated our position include theNational Association for Developmental Education(NADE) John Champaigne Award and the IRAExemplary P. rn Award. Other awards for whichwe are current,/ applying or plan to apply in thefuture include other NADE awards, the NACADAOutstanding Advising Office Award, the Noel-LevitzRetention Excellence Award, the AmericanAssociation of University Administrators (AAUA)Outstanding Piogram Award, the Townsend PressStudent Scholarship Contest, and the Townsend PressReading/Writing Faculty Contest. Any time anyaward is giveli to the developmental studies area, it isworth much publicity and generation of good will.

In order to change perceptions, we as develop-mental educators should constantly reach for a higherstandard We must he more professionally active. Wemust do more nCworking. We must pursue everyaward possible in order to be perceived more positive-ly in the university community. However, we cannotstop there. It is also necessary to promote ourselvesthrough public relations activities when we startachieving these objectives. Only then will develop-mental studies educators be viewed as assets insteadof liabilities.

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Primary & Secondary Orientation Supportfor One Underrepresented Group

Allen R. Barlow Kerri Heavens

AbstractUniversity orientati)n and preparation of a minority group (mature age women) was found to be significantly more success-

ful when partners and families were included in the process. This paper outlines the processes and the outstanding success inreducing attrition, maximizing performance, and creating self-support learning cells that lessentd this group's utilization of

other support and developmental services.

Weste,

rn Sydney hosts one of the largest areas ofconcentrated disadvantage in Australia. TheUniversity of Western Sydney, at its center, has

initiated and developed a number of major projects aimed atfacilitating access for disadvantaged groups, particularlywhere few parents have previously attended a tertiary insti-tution. This has led to a wide range of admission, orienta-tion and support programs. One such offering is a universi-ty preparation program for mature age women (MAW).

Project DescriptionMature age women, particularly' women of 30 years and

over, frequengy experience adjustment difficulties in theirfirst year of tertiary study. A group of 25 women, many ofwhom had not completed secondary education or recentformal education, were selected for this program. They gen-erally lacked the basic skills to be successful in universitystudies. The realization that basic skills are inadequate cancontribute to feelings of anxiety, loss of confidence and low-ering of self-esteem. Many ultimately "drop out" of the uni-versity.

MAW is an intensive program to assist in the develop-ment of strategies and skills m time management, essaywriting, note-taking, library research, adapting to changingfamily role, self-esteem and confidence building and devel-oping a peer support network combined into a learning cellthat is capable of providing mutual support throughout theduration of the students' university careers.

Aims and Objectives and Course Contentlhe project aims to assist mattire age w onum to (a)

reduce the number of adjustment difficulties encountered,

and (b) gain basic skills necessary to complete their chosencourse.

Eacn mature age female student entering an undergrad-uate program was invited to participate in this tertiarypreparation course. The course comprises approximately 30hours of study in the week prior to orientation and is pre-sented in both lecture and workshop format. The focus ofthe course was on developing specific skills and strategies inthree areas: (a) study skills; (b) self-esteem and confidencebuilding; and (c) adapting to changing personal and familyroles.

The content of the study skills component of the courseincluded active listening, motivation, organization, timemanagement, methods of study, essay' writing, sharpeningmathematics skills, note taking, goals, handling distraction,timetables and their use, types of learning, exam prepara-tion, and a library' tour.

The content of the confidence component of the courseincluded beliefs that reduce confidence, negative thinking,handling criticism, avoiding anxiety, negotiating conflicts,looking after yourself, and stress management.

The third component of the course focused on adaptingto change; the content included role of the family and expe-riences of successful tertiary students.

The course partkipants were assisted to establish a peersupport group. These groups continue to meet regularly todiscuss problems and issues related to the women's studiesand their personal lives. Most groups maintain their cohe-siveness for tlie duration of their undergraduate course.

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Profile and Number of ParticipantsIn the cohort outlined in this paper, the majority of par-

ticipants were married women living with their partner, sixwomen were separated or divorced, and only two partki-pants were single. The total number of dependent childrenof the participants was 68. The range of number of yearssince undertaking formal education was from twenty-eightto one year. Each session of the course had 100".. attendance.

Staffi±ig

Teaching staff were drawn from the University ofWestern Sydney (UWS) when no suitably qualified Nepeanemployee was available. Preference was given to theemployment of female staff in order to reinforce that womencan be and are successful in the world of academics andwork.

EvaluationThe initial evaluation of this program consists of a ques-

tionnaire completed one week after the final session of thecourse; the second phase consists of a follow-up evaluationquestionnaire and a review of performance by means ofexanunation results for the year ot entry. The response ratewas 100%. The questionnaire requested participants to rateboth presentation and content according to three levels ofsatisfaction, i e. good, satisfactory or poor. In general, theratings for each session of the course were positive Studyskills, time management and the library tour were consis-tently scored as "good", while confidence building andadapting to change were rated slightly lowec. However, thisis not surprising as the material in each of these sessions isoften difficult to digest if the person has not been exposed toideas of self-awareness and development. Adapting tochange was designed to sensitize and prepare the partici-pant for possible difficulties. Overall, twentv-two partici-pants rated the course as being "very helpful", two rated thecourse as "helpful" and one person rated the course as "sat-isfactory".

All participants stated they would recommend thecourse to mature age women enrolling at the university.Participants were asked to suggest additional pertinent top-ics. These included revision of basic math and science; mem-ory training; additional practice at essay writing; and a uni-versity tour. The general comments received and the resultsof the evaluation questionnaire clearly demonstrate that aneed exists for mature age students to undertake a prepara-tion course before entering tertiary studies.

Performance

A review of the performance of participants in the pro-gram at the end of the first year revealed that these studentsperformed better than matched controls and superior to tra-ditional entry students. A majority of the participants whowere enrolled m the initial Louise in 1440 has e graduated

and a number of those have entered into postgraduatestudy.

Attrition/ProgressionOne of the most pleasing aspects of the program is the

manner in which the small groups (learning cells) have beeninstrumental in adively discouraging drop-out or attrition.At UWS, the mature age women drop-out rate in their firstyear was originally in excess of 50'!... Participation in theMAW has seen this figure drop to less than 4",i, in the firstyear in all groups for 1990-1994. By any standards, the suc-cess of this initiative is outstanding.

Social SupportSome of the major concerns experienced by student

support counselors range from domestic violence to simplelack of genuine support for women entering education. Itwas evident that although most enrolling women had themotivation, the aspiration and dedication to stay in under-graduate programs, the orientation and preparation wasmore appropriately and usefully directed to partners/hus-bands and families. It was for this reason that orientationincluded the family unit (in its many guises). Families wereintroduced to the university by way of barbecues, socialevents and a brief formal lecture. These activities aimed ateducating the participants about the demands placed uponstudents. In some instances, the partners were encouragedto stay in touch with one another and, in fact, developedinto an outer group of supporters who often complained toeach other about their partner's participation in the univer-sity. This safety valve appears to have real advantages in!essening overall family demands on women. The womenrepored significant reductions in pressure from home todiscontinue and in the anger and violence directed towardthem by family members.

Erom a university perspective, it seemed that the socialsupport network took the place of the support structuresprovided from the Counsi ling & Health Unit and thel.earning Assistance Center. 'articipants in the MAW uti-lized these services to a much lesser degree than eithermatched controls or the general mature age female popula-tion resulting, in very real saving in support costs.

ConclusionThis course has endeavored to equip the mature age

woman student with academic and basic skills and strate-gies. The desired result is to ensure as far as possible that thestudent is prepared for study and the personal changes thatwill he a consequence of university enrollment and partici-pation.

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Magazines in Developmental Writing:An Innovative Reading-Writing Connection

Sandra Karnei Chumchal

Abstract

A ret,iew of the literature' shows a lack of iitformation abenit the effecliiq',Irractical use of lieu's magazines in dezvlopmeritalEcriting. Practical teaching strategies, student eualuation, and session participants' responses illustrate the magazine'spotential as a main tell` or supplement. Educators are challenged to conduct research on the maga:ine's el-fecticeness and

a( propriaterle'+';.

Tnstructors in developmental writing courses seem to bein constant search of teaching ideas that will expand on

JILthe rich experiences that adult students bring to class.Instructors look for ideas that will enable the student totranster learning to other courses. They are also interested inactivities that connect reading and writing. Using the newsmagazine, even as a suppkmental text, writing instructorsmay realize all ot these- goals I lowex er, there is a shortage'of research and art I Ltic.es escribing its effectiveness in thissetting.

Most of the literature on news magazine's promotestheir lltie in reading curricula or in public school writingeducation. Ritchey and Starke' (198)) determined thatamong predominantly I lispanic community college stu-dents who scored between the eighth and tenth grade read-mg levels on a test ot reading speed and comprehensiori, theholistic approach improved attitude's 100% while buildingskills as we'll as an isolated skills approach did. The holisticapproach WNCS a combinati,14 news nhigazines, newspa-pers, journals, and novels. Other researe hers support theholistic design Baechtold, Culross, and Gray (1()86) main-tain that "news riLlgartnes are a natural c.chicle hir teachingreading comprehension because each article' may require aditferent combination of reading skills" (p 105). D.vyer(1990) calls for using articles from news magazines or news-papers to help secondary students overcome weaknesses iiireading and writingis we'll as develop cultural awareness

1 he population of students in developmental writing(lassos is very different from that in secondary education.given the' growing number of nontraehtional studentsFurther, developing wro,rs must be prepared for collegeacademic requirements Despite the need for researe h andartieles on this topic, I found only one article. Lambert(1984) presents pra, heal tea, lung strategies for using maga

lines with developing writers. She defines and models sum-mary writing Atter reading and discuss-ing articles, stu-dents write summaries as a group. Then they discuss andrec ise as needed. She concludes that her approach hasinstructional, cognitivemd affective benefits for her stu-dents.

The Developmental WritingProgram at Blinn College

Hie dee clopmental w riling program offers four cours-es, including English as Second Language' (ESL) 0312, tomeet student needs. Developmental English (DE) 0310 is thesee ond level writing course'. Lmphasis in this course is onstudying kinds of sentences (simple', compound, complex),sentence revision strategies, sentence var".ty /logic, punctu-ation, and writing short essays. Most students who enroll inDE 0310 are reading at the' ninth grade level or above asindicated on the reading test. ! have incorporated the newsmagazine, as a supplemental text in DE 0310. A variety ofassignments require the' student to work at different levelsof intensity and require different levels of instructor involve-ment I have found all assignments beneficial depending onmy focus and the availability of time.

For one semester'.. assignment, I use a process of alter-nating wevkly assignments. One week I ask students to readan assigned attn. le from a news magazine'. Following classdiscussion about the article, students write one paragraph ofsummary. In a second paragraph, students respond to theirreading Lich entry include's a bibliographical entry follow-ing Modern Language. A.,ociation (MLA) format (1985)manuscript guidelines I define the' summary as main ideaand supporting details to connect writing with reading. Imodel summaries and responses at the beginning of the

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semester and outline each article that is assigned to help stu-dents get started. Then I have students do more of the initialanalysis in groups. The following week, while we are revis-ing summaries, I ask for independent reading and complet-ed "Fact Sheets" for two articles. The items on the "FactsSheets" are as f-llows: (a) bibliographical entry; (b)who/what is the article about; (c) what does the author tellyou about the who/what; and (d) explain three points thatthe author makes in the article. End of the semester evalua-tions compared to beginning surveys indicate that studentsare much more aware of current events as a result of theassignment. They also report feeling more confident aboutcompleting research assignments for other glasses.

I have developed magazine assignments for writingdescriptive, process, and persuasive essays. The assignmentfor the process essay, for example, can be very successfuldepending on students' skill levels. It enhances proficiencyin analysis, synthesis, and critical thinking. I choose approx-imately three articles from a news magazine that discuss theprocess in which something occurs, develops, etc. Studentsread and study all three; then they choose one to writeabout. Their paper is a description/paraphrase of theprocess discussed in the article. This assignment is quitechallenging for students. It requires a great deal of thought-ful effort from students working collaboratively. I providemuch structure, modeling, and encouragement as they workthrough their analysis and writing. I see this as a very bene-ficial exercise, for it prepares developing writers for the rig-ors of college level work.

I shared a variety of other teaching ideas. Some assign-ments require students to choose vocabulary words fromtheir reading in a news magazine. Still others for essay writ-ing ask students to make presentations from their readingand analyze effective sentences. Session participants sharedmany valuable ideas, including how to handle subscriptioncosts. Students can be billed directly from most magazinepublishers; however, one participant explained how shearranged with the campus bookstore for students to buytheir subscription when they buy the rest of their books andsupplies. Another participant found that a magazine with acondensed format was effective for low-level studentsbecause most articles followed a similar pattern of organiza-tion. Once students understood that pattern, they could readmore efficiently. Also, the topics provided students withinspirational reading that they could relate to their lives.

There are both advantages and disadvantages involvedin using a news magazine curriculum. Among the advan-tages are providing potentially high interest reading; pro-moting awareness of current events; getting students active-ly involved; supplying students with thought-provokingideas,.feelings, and incidents to think about and write about;challenging students' ideas and values; helping students todevelop logic and critical thinking skills; teaching studentshow to summarize and avoid plagiarism; avoiding the pit-fall of using too many typical essay or journal topics; allow-ing students to read rather than be off task in class or lab;and avoiding copyright violations and budget constraintsfor xeroxing. There are some disadvantages. It is time con-

suming because discussion is critical for understanding. Itrequires adequate modeling, reinforcement, and feedbackfur success. Clear cut instructions and goals of the assign-ment must be provided. As a journal writing assignment, itloses effectiveness if students lose momentum or fallbehind, then try rapidly to produce entries at the end of thesemester.

Although I am personally convinced that using thenews magazine in the developmental writing classroom isan exceptional idea, research must be done to confirm it.More importantly, research may allow one to determinewhich assignments are best suited for which types of stu-dents. A number of research questions remain to beanswered:

(1) What are same practical teaching strategies usingnews magazines in the writing classroom?

(2) How does a news magazine curriculum influencestudents' attitudes about writing?

(3) What gains in writing ability do students makewhen a news magazine curriculum is used, either as themain text or as a supplemental text?

(4) What is the demographic/academic profile of thestudent that benefits most from a news magazine curricu-lum? In other words, for what population of students is thenews magazine curriculum most appropriate?

(5) What effect does a news magazine curriculum inwriting have on students' reading ability?

(6) Does a news magazine curriculum, in comparison toothers, significantly raise students' gain scores on state-mandated tests of writing?

(7) Does a news magazine curriculum, in comparison toothers, significantly improve students' performance incourses like history, political science, business, etc.?

Thus, the news magazine remains an innovative toolfor the developmental writing classroom, but research isneeded to fully evaluate its effectiveness.

ReferencesAt hot W S., Gthalth, I. (1985). The All.,./1.101c nun! ILA Neu.

York, NY. Nlodern Imiguage Association of America.

Haechtold, S., C.:dross, T 0 , & Gray, G. (1986) The Mies MagaZineall the college readmg classroom Jouriml of Reaultny, 304-10.

Dwyer, E. I. (1990, May). Promotmg reading and writing competen-cies and cultural awareness using a weekly news magazine. Paper present-ed at the Annual Meeting of the International CommunicationAss:NI:01:m, Dublin, Ireland (ERIC Docionent Reproduct:011 Servile(' NI,.ED 317 986)

Lambert, R. (1984). Summaries A ,focus tor basic writers journaletTmjcillnental Educatioil,_8,10-12, 32

Ritchey, J A & Starke, D J (1989) Iii . 'MANN Hoh,tie evalua-tion, reading magazine., and nele,piper,ororels Report. 1.1 PasoCommunity Coh'exe (URIC Do, u went R 'production Serrice No 31ti 272:

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:41 a IFOCONT FRI NC E PAPERS 1q95

Summary of the Final Report of the American MathematkalAssociation of Two Year Colleges: Standards for

Developmental and Introductoiy College Mathematics

Betsy Darken

Abstract

The eurrerit period of upheaz'al in mathematics education raises two critical questions for deuelopmental edinatorsshould we be teaching and how can we teach it effectively? New insights are prozuded by the Standards for introductoryCollege Mathematics, recently published by the American Mathematical Association of Two li'ar Colleges.

Amajor upheaval is now occurring in mathematicseducation, with critical implications for develop-mental educators. Radically new answers are

needed for our most basic questions: What should we beteaching and how can we teach it effectively? TheCurriculum and Evaluation Standards for SchoolMathematics (National Council of Teachers ofMathematics, 1989) provided guidance for K-12 educa-tors on these and related issues. Now the AmericanMathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges(AMATYC) is publishing a comparable guide for the col-lege level, titled Standards for Introductory CollegeMathematics (1994). This important new documentpaves the way for the revitalization of developmentalmathematics, as well as technical, mathematics-intensive,liberal arts and pre-service teacher programs.

The AMATYC Standards have four main premises.First, fundamental changes must occur because the cur-rent curriculum often fails to achieve its most importantgoals. Second, recent research on how students learn hasthe potential to greatly improve mathematics pedagogy.Third, changes such s technological advances and theincreased use of mathematics in many fields have majorimplications regarding what is relevant for students tolearn. Fourth, for the health of our democratic society,postsecondary institutions must continue to address theneeds of diverse student populations and increase stu-dent participation in mathematics, especially by women,people of eolorind other underrepresented groups.

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To many of our students, learning mathematics hasdisintegrated into rote memorization of unrelated proce-dures and facts. 'Me curriculum must be reformed sothat students learn how to think logically and use mathe-matics effectively in the real world. Th following princi-ples form the phil~phical underpinnings ot theStandards: the study of mathematics is necessary forgood citizenship and expanded career choices, the math-ematics that students study should be meaningful andstrongly connected to other disciplines; "competence isacquired through a careful balance of skill acquisition,conceptual understanding, logical proof, and creativeproblem solving" (AMATYC, 1994, p. 4); active participa-tion, the development ot studert tenacity and conti-dence, and appropriate use of technology are key ele-ments of an effective curriculum. 'These highlight thecentral theme of the Standards (ANIATYC, 1994). ''Thisdocument takes the position that problem solving is theheart of mathematics and that a major goal of mathemat-ics education is to enable -.tudents to Nee the world froma mathematical perspective" (p. 11).

It is imperative to understand that all of these principlus apply to developmental as well as college ley clmathematics. The fact that our programs are often called"basic skills programs" is indicative that too men. hemphasis has been placed on procedural leariung It is

time to reconsider how well we are teaching our studentsto think mathematically.

I laying established a set of principle's tor addres--ingthis multifaceted problem, the Standards examine con-tent and pedagogy, selling ,aandards that are interprvted

.1 '110. 1. 1 1 1'4, 124,"nI .4

SELECTED CONFERENCE PAPERS, 1995

for various curricular paths and providing illustrativeexamples. The document also discusses the ramificationsof a reformed curriculum for faculty development, place-ment, assessment and a host of other issues, and propos-es a plan for implementation. Significantly, much space isdevoted to developmental mathematics. Instead of beingtreated as a stepchild, the latter has been renamed the"Foundation" to emphasize its central importance inestablishing a basis for students' use of mathematics intheir future studies and careers.

The Standards address questions about content with-in the context of six overarching themes: numeracy, sym-bllism and algebra, geometry, functions, probability andstatistics, and deductive proof. These themes pertain toall courses, although the depth to which they are coveredvaries. The applicability of all six themes to developmen-tal mathematics implies a significant expansion in thescope of the latter curriculum. In fact, many readers mayinitially think that the writers of the Standards are out oftheir minds to suggest studying functions, probability,statistics and deductive proof in developmental mathe-matics! However, it is time to be open to the possibility ofdramatic changes to this curriculum as we rethink itsgoals.

For instance, while the study of functions has beenconsidered traditionally as an advanced topic, its centralrole in the mathematical modeling of real-world phe-nomena suggests that it should receive more attentionthroughout the curriculum. Note that patterns and rela-tionshipsoften functions in disguisecan be explorednumerically and graphically even before students studyalgebra. Likewise, realistic geometric topics and basicstatistics can be integrated throughout the curriculum. Inaddition, the study of basic probability offers many fineopportunities for using fractions in realistic contexts.

Significant changes are also being proposed for tra-ditional developmental topics. "Numeracy" has beenused deliberately instead of "arithmetic" to emphasizethis shift. Numeracy includes "the ability to estimate reli-ably, judge the reasonableness of answers, understandorders of magnitude and think proportionally" (p. 24). Itis recommended that decreased attention be given tomemorization, manipulative and routine operations withwhole numbers, fractions and decimals.

Many questions still remain about changes in thestudy of algebra. These are key questions because alw-braic manipulations have played such a dominant role indevelopmental mathematics. The increasing availabilityof computer algebra systems and powerful graphingutilities certainly adds a major new wrinkle to this dis-cussion, and it will take time to understand their ramifi-

cations for the mathematics curriculum. With the full andsomewhat unnerving understanding that it is embarkingon uncharted waters, the Standards make the followingrecommendations for developmental and lower divisionmathematics: (a) emphasize conceptual understanding,stressing a multi-representational approach, e.g. numeri-cal, symbolic, graphical, and verbal; (b) emphasize multi-ple methods of solving real world problems, includingalgebraic; (c) develop an appropriate level of proficiencywith important algebraic manipulations; (d) develop avariety of methods for solving equations and inequali-ties, including paper-and-pencil, mental and machine-based.

Which algebraic manipulations are important andwhat level of difficulty should be expected? While com-plete answers will take time, a consensus is forming thatthe following topics should be de-emphasized: factoringtechniques, simplification of radical and rational expres-sions, and contrived word problems.

With rei;ard to instructional strategies, the Standardsargues that we must reform how as well as what weteach. Teachers need to become more aware of researchon learning, especially the constructivist theory thatknowledge is not something given to students but rathersomething they must construct for themselves. Teachersplay a key role in structuring new information so thatstudents can relate it to what they already know (Brophy& Good, 1986). Student, ; q this reformed curriculum willbecome thoughtful and competent problem solvers,familiar with a variety of mathematical tools and able towork with each other to solve real-world problems.

Get prepared for the twenty-first century! The publi-cation of the Standards is the first major step in revitaliz-ing developmental and introductory college ma themaZ-ics. While supplies last, copies can be obtained by con-tacting: AMATYC, State Technical Institute of Memphis,5983 Macon Cove, Memphis, TN 38134.

References

American Mathematical Assiwiat ion of Two-Year ColWges.(1994). Standards for bit rilductory College Mathematics (Finaldraft). Memphis, TN: Author.

Brophy, I. & Good, T L. (198W. Teacher behavior and studentachievement. In M.C. Whitrock (Ed.), Llandbook qtresorch onteaching (pp.209-239). New York: McMillan.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (1989).Curriculum and evaluation Ntan da rds for school mathematics.Reshm, VA

8

5111CTED CONFERENCt" PAN- RS, 1195

Effects of Testing Methods onOutcomes in Developmental Algebra

Jeanette W. Glover

Abstract

Effects of gender and testing method on three outcomes were examined for 73 developmental algebra students. Mean post-test scores and course grades were significantly hi,s;her pr women than for men. Students tested traditionally ,-cared higher

on the post-test. Testing method and grade in subsequent math course were unrelated.

practitioners who assist at-risk students in learn-ing math employ a variety of assessment mea-sures: course grades, post-test scores, and per-

forrnance in college level courses. Anderson (1989)suggested that success on objective tests is genderrelated. Other researchers (Johnson, 1991; Williams,1983) found no differences in outcomes for studentsusing different test formats. This investigation focuseson the relationships among testing method, gender,and outcomes for students in developmental algebraat an urban university.

Methodology

During Fall semester, 1993 the author randomlyassigned five sections of Developmental Algebra Twoto one of the two testing strategies, i.e., either multiplechoice or traditional, work-the-problem, testing.Students completed a diagnostic test consisting of 30multiple choice questions devised by a departmentalcommittee. The same instructor taught all sectionsusing the same strategies. The post-test, the math por-tion of the Academic Assessment and PlacementProgram (Educational Testing Service, 1990), request-ed students to complete 30 multiple choice items in 35minutes. Course grades were computed as a percent-age of the possible points from four tests, the gradesfor homework and quizzes , and twice the grade onthe final exam. Success in a subsequent college levelmath course was defined as earning a grade of A, B, or

C. Grades of D, F, or DROP were classified as unsuc-cessful attempts.

Data Analysis

The two independent variables, testing methodand gender, classified students into four categoriesfemales who completed multiple-choice tests, maleswho tested via multiole-choice tests, females who satfor work-the-problem tests, and males who tookwork-the-problem tests. Multivariate analysis of vari-ance with diagnostic test score as a covariate pre-served an experimentwise error rate of .05, compen-sated for correlations between course grade and post-test score, and adjusted for prior algebra knowledgePost hoc univariate analyses of variance was used toinvestigate the impact of each significant main effecton the individual dependent variables. Relationshipsamong testing method, gender, and success in collegemath were studied by cross-tabulating grades in col-lege math separately with testing method and genderand then by calculating the value of chi-square. Alldata screening and statistical analyses were conductedusing Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)programs (SPSS, 1994).

Results and Conclusions

Seventy-three students passed DevelopmentalAlgebra Two, completed the post-test, and attempteda college level math course. Analyses performed test-

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I CI! 11i-ONI I' RI NV! PAP? 5', 1q95

Table 1

Mean Performance Scores of Al ,ebra Students Undergoing Different Testing Method

Course Grade Post-test Score

GroupSD

Multiple-Choice 45 75.93 14.33 15.09 3.84

Males 13 68.08 17.29 13.46 3.60

Females 32 79.13 11.80 15.75 3.79

Work-the-Problem 28 69.39 13.57 16.89 3.80

Males 12 65.75 8.53 15.83 4.11

Females 16 72.12 18.44 17.69 3.48

Males 25 66.96 13.57 14.60 3.96

Females 48 76.79 14.54 16.40 3.76

cd whether differences in the means presented inFable 1 are statistically reliable.

The interaction effect of gender and testingmethod was not significant, F(2, 67) = 0.292, p = .748.Post hoc analyses confirmed a significant main effectof gender on both course grade, F(1, 68) = 6.212, p =.015, and post-test scores, F(1, 68) = 6.755, p = .011. Thefemales in the sample scored significantly higher thanmales on both course grade and post-test. Due to thesignificant main effect of testing method, F(I, 68) =6.052, p = .016, students in the work-the-problemgroup scored higher on the post-test than the studentswho sat for multiple choice tests. An insignificantvalue of X (1, N = 73) = 0.5126, p > .05, indicated norelationship between testing method inDevelopmental Algebra Two and grade in a subse-quent college level math course. However, the signifi-cant value of X' (1, N = 73) = 6.724, p < .05, for thecross-tabulation of gender and college math gradesindicates o relationhsip between gender and successin college math. Fifty-six percent of the women passedcollege compared to twenty-one percent of the men

Discussion

I he results of this study parallel the hndings otJohnson (1991) and Williams (1983) who reported nosignificant differences in outcomes using differenttesting strategies. Although Anderson (P489) found

that men scored significantly higher than women onmultiple choice questions, his subjects studied calcu-lus. The women in this study did significantly betterthan men on all three outcomes studied. The studygroup included over twice as many women as men.Even though test statistics took sample size intoaccount, another study including equal nunbers ofmen and women may shed more light on outcomes ofdevelopmental math instruction for the large popula-tion of students at risk of failing math in urban uni-versities.

References

Anderson. /. (1989). Sex-related differences on objective testsamon,k; umlergraduates. Libitationat Stitches m Mathematics,(21)21, 1(6-177.

Lam abonal Teq tu Servit 199M. At ademic Assessmentand Placement Pnwrani. Prim cum,. 1; I'S

John.on B R (1991) .4 Hew stlieMe .for multiple-chowe testsin lower-division mathematics. American Malheinatwal Alonthlx

427-429

SPSS helease 4 1 for t A X/VA IS Computer Software. (1994).(_lm ay. IL- SPSS

IVilhanN, 1 1) (108,31 Discoreri, learning in remedial math-ematics. Atultiple-chone us written generalization. Alatiicnialisl:and Compiler Lduc0tion,171.3). 171-177.

10

SELECTED CONFERENCE RAPERS. 199.5

Breaking Down the Barriers

Ellen Hendrix Olivia Carr Edenfield Kathy Albertson

Abstract

The presenters modeled a successful reading/writing program wherein developmental studies faculty and general programfaculty work together to expand the paradigms of developmental education in order to insure a seamless transition fromdevelopmental reading and writing to first year composition and sophomore literature classes.

The Department of Learning Support (LS) and theDepartment of English and Philosophy at ourinstitution have developed composition stan-

dards to provide students with a seamless transitionfrom Learning Support through first year compositioncourses. The most unusual aspect of our progiam isthe structure of the departments: 32% of the LearningSupport Department instructors are also members ofthe Department of English. All faculty members of theEnglish Der artment teach first year compositioncourses. Together the departments have also devel-oped grading criteria so that the objectives on eachcomposition level build or become more defined, butthe standards for grading remain the same. In short,the faculty who teach Learning Support can betterprepare students for first year composition becausethey know what is expected.

Learning SupportPart One of the presentation demonstrated LS

exercises in one reading/writing course that intro-duces similar writing strategies and assignments tothose in first year composition courses. The combinedclass syllabus and assignments are based onBartholomae and Petrosky's (1986) Facts, Artifacts<and Counterfacts: Theory and Method for a Readingand Writing Course, and Deen and Ponsat's (1985)The Common Sense: What to Write, How to Write lt,and Why, the ideas being modified by our colleaguesto fit a quarter system regimen.

Readings consist primarily of Adler's ( l940)"How to Mark a Book," three novels, professional

essays, and student/peer essays. Activities requirereaders' responses to the novels, to classmates' essays,and to discussion questions that force the students tosynthesize information from multiple sourceslook-ing for universals in their readings.

The writing portion has two distinct categories:the personal and the academic essays. When studentswrite autobiographically, they do not have to be con-cerned with grammar or punctuation, just gettingcomplete ideas onto the page. The mode for theseassignments is cause/effect. For instance, the firstessay asks that students write about a significant mcidentwhat happened and how this event changedthem. The academic essays use cause/effect and com-parison/contrast, asking that students write aboutsignificant incidents, showing how and why a charac-ter changes, or they compare two characters from dif-ferent works to show how each character changes.Additional writings involve practicing summary tech-niques by having the class read a psychology chapteron adolescence and then summarize the piece. Thisassignment leads to a group research paper whereinmembers compile common patterns of adolescencefrom any work used during the quarter; they mustformulate their own theses and choose examples tosummarize and quote for support. All academicessays are graded for content as well as grammar andmechanics te show areas in which an individual maystill need work to be ready for success in the first yearcomposition courses.

'urthc, 1101 I fe.1.1,,, 1)crarime.,! wor,:hisoloheru 11.1::vilu I MN ;CI: ( ;A 44i4n1I PI: 1 4121b8 I 5471

I I

16

SELECTED CONFERENCE PAPERS, 1995

Composition IPart Two of the presentation addressed three areas

in the regular first year composition courses that coin-cide with the goals of Learning Support. Discussionwas limited to the first composition course, outliningthe similarities in grammar, style, and modes of writ-ing.

Grammar, as in Learning Support, is approachedexistentially; in other words, students are responsiblefor learning the rules. Just as Learning Support teach-ers do not "teach" grammar, English 151 studentslearn grammar by accepting responsibility for theirweaknesses. In this instructor's class, they addresseach individual error in every paper by doing correc-tion sheets: an exercise that has a student write eachmistake, correct it, and then write the rule that gov-erns the correction. By beginning the course withshort assignments that count only a fraction of thecourse grade, students can .make mistakes withoutdestroying their chances of success in the course.Responsible students can conference with tutors, theinstructor, or may turn to their text for support.

In terms of style, Composition I picks up whereLearning Support leaves off. Early on, students in thispresenter's class read Strunk and White's (1979) TheElements of Style to get them thinking about theirown styles and to give them a reference guide. PartTwo also covered giving students vehicles for express-ing their ideas by teaching different sentence struc-tures. Students learn bow the periodic sentence worksas a way to organize information in a thesis or in atopic sentence and how the balanced sentence worksas a way to summarize information in a conclusion.Stuclmts start to think about not just what they aresaying, but how they are saving it. For example, stu-dents study the very different writing styles of ErnestHemingway and Calvin Trilling and consider howeach writer uses style to his advantage.

Compc ition I includes modes of writing that area bit more sophisticated in comparison to LearningSupport, but the differences are not radical. After aseries of short papers to weed out grammatical errors,students write the personal essay; it is typically easyto write, with a familiar format, and a focus on intro-ductions. Another mode familiar to the LearningSupport student is the definition essay. Writing aboutliterature using a mode that is easier than most, stu-dents learn to incorporate primary quotations.

Composition IIPart Three of the presentation focused on

Composition II, which emphasizes students develop-ing an understanding of literary forms and terms,using the teacher's three choices of four literary gen-

res: poetry, short story, novel, drama. Terminologyhelps students gain an understanding of how literarydevices contribute to the authors' works.

As the students read and write about fiction, theyhone the skills first used in Learning Support whilethey learn new skills needed for the next course, a sur-vey of world literature. The first goal of Composition11 is discovery. In class discussions and essay develop-ment, students must answer questions through analy-sis to show how the elements in a work contribute tounderstanding. Literary terms become more than justterms as they are considered in the students' analyses.Students look for words or images that suggest feel-ing; they examine characters' states of mind and per-sonalities; they consider points of view and settings.

With their essays centering around a thesis, stu-dents use annotations in the Modern LanguageAssociation (MLA) format (Achert & Gibaldi, 1985) tosupply evidence to support their central idea.Students then edit and revise skills they have devel-oped in Learning Support and Composition I.

ConclusionRegardless of pedagogical approaches and

philosophies within our classrooms and departments,the same expectations and standards allow us to pre-pare students for a smoother transition to each succes-sive level of composition. Success rates demonstratethe program's ability to break down the barriers.Sixty-two percent of the LS students exit after the firstquarter, and sixty-eight percent of those LS studc.:tssucceed in English 151 by earning a C or better on thefirst attempt. Ironically, these successes come fromstudents initially deemed "underprepared" for collegelevel writing.

ReferencesAdler, M. (1 n.10) llow to mark a boiik. P L.1:Ii ijz & A

Rosa tds ), Themes for writers (pp 481-86). New York,NY St.

Athol, WS., & I (1985). The MLA style manual.New York. NY: Modern binguage Association of America.

Bartholomae, D., & Petrosky, A. (1986). Facts, aritifacts, andcounterfacts: Theery and meth& jer a reading and writing cour&.1.1i)per Montclair, NI: Boynton/Cook Publishers.

Peen, R., & Ponsat, (1985). The common sense: What Leicritc, how to ivritciLondicky. Upper NhutIclair,Boynton/Cook PublisheN.

Strunk, W., /r, & White, E. B. (197q). The elements ef style(.3rd. ed.). New York,NY: Macmillan.

12

SELECTEC) COM ERLNCE PAPERS, 1995

A Fair Chance for All

Trevor Hulme Allen R. Barlow

Abstract

University education in Australia, until recent years, has been elitist and strongly biased toward providing for recent high

school graduates. Mature age people, including many groups traditionally considered to be educationally disadvantaged,

have been allowed access via specifically focused pre-tertiaiy programs. Those who have successfully compkted these pro-

grams have, in comparison to conventional entry students, shown considerable success in tlieir jaculty programs.

Headway and Unistart are pre-tertiary bridgingprograms of approximately 0.5 of a typicalundergraduate semester load, designed to

provide opportunities for people to gain the basicskills necessary to enter and succeed in conventionalacademic programs at University of Western Sydney(UWS) Hawkesbury and UWS Nepean. (Thes cam-puses are 12 miles apart geographically). Studentscomplete studies in written communication, basicmathematics, computer skills, library skills, prepara-tion for learning skills plus bridging in the basic sci-ence and mathematics areas. These programs are tar-geted for the people of Greater Western Sydney whohave experienced educational or social disadvantage(e.g., lower socio-economic status), which has pre-vented them from fulfilling their educational andaspirational goals. Preferential entry to the program isusually given to residents of Greater Western Sydney.

Program Objectives

The main objectives of the program are to identifylearning deficits and to assist students to bridge gapsin knowledge before attempting a degree; to developindependent learning skills; to form peer supportgroups with fellow students to share knowledge andencourage each other; to foster participation in aner vironment that is academically supportive and suc-cess orientated; to introduce students to typical uni-versity assessment procedures; and to familiarize stu-

dents with university standards, policies and proce-dures.

Selection Procedures

Each year advertisements are placed in the localnewspapers, notices placed in community areas suchas supermarkets, community announcements madeover radio, and promotional material provided tocareers advisers in high schools and colleges of techni-cal and further education. Preference is given tomature age people (over 21 years of age) with anyremaining places made available to recent high schoolgraduates. All applicants must be able to demonstratesome form of educational or social disadvantage orbelong to a cohort identified by the Australian gov-ernment as hay:A.; low participation rates in highereducation. Entrance to the program is by a screeninginterview undertaken by the staff of the LearningCenter subsequent to a written application meetingthe initial criteria. This interview attempts to assessthe motivation and ability of a candidate to succeed.

At a point midway through the program anotherinterview is conducted by a faculty member (withLearning Center staff p-esent), at which point an offerof an undergraduate place may be made subject to thenotional belief that success is possible for that studentand provided the student is successful in both phasesof the preparatory program. Faculty and staff are

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13

SEt f CUD CONFERENCE PAPERS. 1995

involved in selection, mid-term interviews and usedto teach in the faculty specific modules.

Program Content and Assessment

The program consists of two components. Phase 1includes computer skills, 30 hours; library skills, 10hours; basic mathematics, 45 hours; preparation forlearning; 15 hours; and written communication, 35hours. For Phase 2 there is faculty-specific moduleparticipation. For example, students undertaking sci-ence based programs study at least one 30 hour sci-ence subject, such as chemistry, physics, or biologyplus scientific mathematics for 30 hours. In addition,students take 30 hours of advanced written communi-cation. Faculty and staff identify subject modules thatare appropriate and prerequisite to their undergradu-ate programs.

Continuous assessment and counseling of indi-vidual students throughout the program recommendsthat students either continue on or leave the program.Those leaving are directed into study routes thatwould be more suitable to their current skill level andconceptual development. Both phases of the Headwayand Unistart Programs are assessed.

Assessments are diverse and on-going, anddesigned to prepare students for tertiary assessmentmodes. Methods include essay writing, both takehome and under examination conditions, seminar pre-sentation, small group assignments, completion of alearning journal, numeracy testing and assessment ofnote taking skills from videoed lectures. (Cobbin,Barlow, Trampus, & Tiernan. 1992).

Usually one combined examination will be held atthe end of the first section of the program. This mavinclude some or all of the subjects being sudied in theprogram. Students who have successfully completedboth sections of Headway or Unistart normally pro-ceed into the undergraduate program they have nomi-nated.

Comparison withNormal Entry Students

It is possible to compare Unistart and Headwaystudents with comparable groups of traditional intakestudents by year of matriculation. Since the grading ofstudents has varied somewhat from campus to cam-pus and has changed over the past few years, it wasdecided to implement a five point system that would

allow valid comparisons across campuses and pro-grams. This system suits most programs, exceptAgriculture at Hawkesbur ; which uses an experien-tial based learning model and allocates only satisfac-tory or fail grades. A mean grade was calculated bysumming the points scored for each grade and divid-ing by the number of subjects attempted during theyear. The following system was used (Cobbin, Barlow,T-ampus, & Tiernan, 1992): 0=Fail, Withdrawn,1=Pass, Conditional Pass, Satisfactory; 2=Credit LevelPass; 3=Distinction Level Pass; 4=High DistinctionLevel Pass. Figures for the period 1991 to 1993 havenot been collated for Unistart students so it is theintention of this paper to use the Unistart data for theperiod 1985 to 1990 as a control group to comparewith data for Headway 1991 to 1993. It is believed thatsimilar levels of educational and social disadvantageexist in the pool of applicants to both Unistart andHeadway.

Data are for 1985 to 1990 for Unistart graduatesand for 1986 to 1991 in mainstream undergraduateprograms. The grade for the entire year of the main-stream program entered by the Unistart students,based on the above five point grading system, is 1 3Data are for 1991 to 1993 as Headway graduates and1992 to 1994 in the first year of mainstream under-graduate programs. The mean grade for the entireyear of the mainstream program entered by theHeadway students, based on the above five pointgrading system (Bolton, 1994), is 1.24. Comparison ofresults shows a close agreement with the mean gradesof the Unistart and Headway students. Rigorous com-parisons cannot be made because the time periodsover which the studies were conducted are substan-tially different. Cobbin, Barlow, Trampus, and Tiernan(1992) report that for the total period, 1986-1991, themean grade of students entering UWS, Nepean viatraditional entry modes was 1.26.

It can be concluded that both Unistart andHeadway students are performing in their undergrad-uate programs at least as well as the traditional entrystudents entering both campuses. Anecdotal feedbackfrom faculty deans and heads of schools supports thisview. The 1986 and 1991 cohorts of Unistart studentsperformed extremely well with mean grades of 1 6and 1.5 respectively; the 1993 cohort in Headwayobtained 1.5, significantly better than the cohorts oftraditional entry students.

The Headway program had the benefit of learningfrom insights gained with the Unistart programScience based study was in need of considerably moreskills development than was originally envisaged. The

14

SELLA:1W llTha LW E PAPERS 1445

early science modules taught in the Headway pro-gram focused on teaching the language of science.Although giving students considerable advantageover traditional entry students who had done no sci-ence in high school, it did not address the requiredskills base adequately. A mean grade for Science andTechnology of 0.8 for 1992 reflects this. For 1993 and1994 Science and Technology, the mean grades weresignificantly improved, being 1.84 and 1.44. Allowingfor the fact that the 1993 group was a generally betterprepared cohort than that of other years, it is apparentthat considerable skill gains were made by the intro-duction of more comprehensive chemistry andphysics curricula into the Headway program. Thesewere 30 hour modules conducted by postgraduatestudents selected because of their skill both in corn-munication and in their discipline area. Feedbackfrom Headway students has indicated their apprecia-tion of the peer support gained from teachers closer totheir age group and t-he insight they could givebecause they were still within the i'niversity system.

There is now a considerable amount of evidenceindicating the pre-tertiary programs such as Unistartand Headway are valuable in assisting otherwise inel-igible students to enter university and to be successfulin their faculty programs.

References

Bolton, P. 0994 Student history ty- Headway studenblawkesbury, Austialia: University of Western Sydney

Cobinn, P. Barlow, A.. Tramlms, D. & Tiernan, I (1992)Performance of newstart graduates in mainstream undergraduateprograms. Proceedings of the Access and Equity Symposnon,University of South Queensland.

2o

SELECTED CONFERENCL PAPERS 1995

Academic Probation:A Road to Academic Success

Marjorie L. Illingworth

Abstract

Sludents on academic probation need a realistic opportunity to succeed academically. Without intervention, students oftenrepeat the same behavior that contributed to academic probation status. The Academic Probation Intervention Unit utilizesresources already available within institutions and integrates them into a program that will support students as theystrengthen skills.

ach semester, Tanana Valley Campus, Universityof Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) has a significant num-ber of students placed on academic probation.

Academic probation status seriously impacts the stu-dents' ability to proceed toward degree completion byinterrupting financial support, removing housingoptions, and blocking access to subsequent classes oreven degree programs. The probation status alsoimpacts the university in terms of retention because stu-dents with even a 2.0 retain at a significantly higher ratethan those with lesser grade point averages. A signifi-cant number of students on academic probation do notimprove their status in subsequent semesters. There islittle disagreement that something needs to be done, butnew programs must compete for the limited fundsavailable to the university as a whole. A major consider-ation in the development of the Academic ProbationIntervention Unit (APIU) was cost; therefore, APIU inte-grates existing, but often fragmented, services to effec-tively intervene on behalf of students and provide acentral access point that is easily prescribed and visibleto advisors and to the students themselves.

Characteristics of the kcademicProbation Intervention Unit

The Al'IU is comprehensive. Academic rrobatiois. is,caused by a combination of several issues: weak acade-mic skills, poor time management skills, 1.1ck of direc-tion, intrusive personal issues, finarmal concerns, pooruse of resources, and a lack of understanding of institu-

tional requirements. APIU utilizes a comprehensive for-mat to provide the varied services needed to foster aca-demic success.

The unit is integrated; thus, the multiple factorsimpacting student success are addressed, needed skillsare introduced, and students are supported in integrat-ing new skills into their courses, study habits, and lifesituations. Weekly meetings also allow for regular con-tact with the advisor, on-going oversight, and timelyintervention.

The AP1U is flexible and individualized. For theAcademic Probation Intervention Unit to meet individ-ual needs, it must be flexible enough to accommodatediversity, not only in academic areas, but in the areas ofpersonal development, study skills, financial realities,and even areas of social and ethnic diversity. The pro-gram advisor is the key to the necessary flexibility,meeting with students to review previous academic his-tory, current skills, and non-academic issues to developa plan that includes academic courses, study skills,tutors, financial aid, and university and communitysupport resources.

The Academic Probation Intervention Unit is easilyprescribed. Grouping students together with one or twoadvisors who specialize in advising such studentsallows for an efficient system. This unit advisor is vis-able to other advisors so they can refer students. Theacademic probation advisor can be well versed in theuniversity requirements that have the greatest impact'in students who are on academic probation.

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SU LCTED CONFERENCE PAPERC 1945

The APIU is cost effective. It was initiated as a partof a grant funded program. This ensured the initialdesign and implementation of the program. However,cost effectiveness is a serious issue for any program thatis to become a permanent part of any post secondaryinstitution. APIU is a coordinated delivery systemdesigned to incur as little additional expense as possibleby using programs, academic sections, special services,and other intervention options already in existencewithin the institution or available in the surroundingcommunity. The only on-going expense accruing toAP1U is that of the additional one credit sections thatform the core of APIU and the additional advisingrequired. The benefits of increased retention may offsetthe costs of the added section.

The Unit PlanAP1U involves students on academic probation and

students readmitted to the UAF after declaring academ-ic bankruptcy. Students are assigned to the unit advisor.The advisor reviews students' academic history anddirects them toward classes that address individual aca-demic needs, including a comprehensive, three creditstudy skills class. Additionally, students are assigned toone of two academic probation support sections.Weekly meetings, facilitated by the APIU advisor, focuson integrating study skills and personal developmentskills into other academic courses. In the process, partic-ipants learn effective interaction skills, form studygroups, and share information on university and com-munity support systems. Weekly meetings assure thatstudents are aware of campus deadlines and allow fortimely intervention when problems arise. Students arealso encouraged to access university services such ascareer advising, personal counseling, peer supportgroups, tutoring services, and academic support labs.Referrals to community services offer additional sup-port. AMU adapts and integrates these existing pro-grams into a manageable, integrated, budget-conscious,easily prescribed, and easily individualized module thatleads students from academic probation to academicsuccess.

Program Assessment and EvaluationEvaluation is one of the most important considera-

tions in the development of any project. The AcademicProbation Intervention Unit was developed with evalu-ation as an integral component. The evaluation process,like the unit itself, is multifaceted and is sensitive to thevarious goals of the unit and to the needs of the partici-pants. Formative evaluation is used to evaluate both the

project and participant progress. Summahve evaluationis directed primarily at the unit. Evaluation is providedby instructors and participants. National, university,and program generated statistics provide norms andstandards.

Frequent and directed assessment of instructionprovides a more timely and specific evaluation ofwhether students are learning material. The processincludes students and encourages them to articulatewhat they have learned in a particular session.Instructors receive an immediate response to instructionand can ouickly modify strategies to meet the needs ofthe students. Students learn critical thinking skills whiletaking a greater responsibility for receiving instructionand determining what is learned. The evaluationprocess validates students when their opinions aresought and acted upon. Instructional assessmentbecomes a powerful tool building student confidence aswell as improving instruction.

ConclusionThe integrated approach to academic probation

intervention fills a significant need at Tanana ValleyCampus. When students are offered the opportunity tostay in the university system, even after failing academ-ically, it is critical that they have a realistic opportunityto succeed in that semester and future semesters andthus progress satisfactorily toward a certificate or adegree. Unless there V some form of intervention, stu-dents are likely to repeat the same mistakes, fall victimto the same weak skills, or make the same inappropriatechoices that contributed to their academic probation sta-tus. The Academic Probation Intervention Unit is basedon the premise that such a program can address studentweaknesses with a minimal impact on the universitybudget.

The characteristics of the program are that it is com-prehensive, integrated, flexible, easily prescribed, andcost effective. The Academic Probation InterventionUnit utilizes existing university courses and servicesand integrates them in such a way as to benefit eachstudent. The program construction includes compre-hensive formative and summative evaluation compo-nents ensuring a high quality program. It is responsiveto student needs and has a cost effective format. Grantfunding ensured the initial development of the programand four pilot semesters. At the end of the funding peri-od it will be necessary to secure another grant or theUniversity will need to assume responsibility for theprogram. I lopefully, by that time the be --fits of the pro-gram will support either option.

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St I ECTL1) CONFERENCE PAPERS 1995

Arts Internships as Transition Space for Students at Risk

Linda Adler Kassner Terence Collins

Abstract

A cooperative transition project fir urban vouth at risk of not making a successful transition from high school to collegeinvolved the lower division open admissions unit of a major urban research university and an African American professionaltheatre company. Students, nearly all of them African American or mixed race, engage in arts internships at the theatrewhile making a first attempt at college courses. The supportive engagenwnt with creative professionals in the luune commu-nity smoothed the transition and proved effective.

This paper reports on a collaborative transition-to-college project involving the University ofMinnesota's General College and the Penumbra

Theatre, an African American professional theatrecompany. With support from the Fund for theImprovement of Postsecondary Education, our taskwas to develop a transition program for students,many of them African American, who said they want-ed to continue with their educations after high school,but who, because of a number of factors, seemed atrisk of not doing so. Nearly all of the students wereseniors in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, publicschools. They participated in internships at the theatreand took courses at the college. Theatre and collegepersonnel also acted as mentors for the students,working with them on transition issues. By' workingwith students at these different sites, we hoped to testwhether community based engagement with fine artsthrough internships would help them make a success-ful transition from high school to whatever postsec-ondary education they wanted to pursue. Datagleaned from questionnaires and interviews withthree cadres of student participants demonstrate thatthese community based, fine arts internships promot-ed the successful movement of these students intohigher education.

Projects attempting to smooth the transitionbetween high school and college are not unique, norare projects that involve some form of the arts in orderto enhance students' experiences. Successfu1 transitionprojects that involve mentoring and contact with theworkplace are described in literally' hundreds of arti-^'es. Bloomfield (1989), for example, describes the

Career Beginnings Program, which placed "moderate-ly' achieving" high school students in college coursesand provided them with counseling, tutoring, andother academic support. Buck (1985) reports onUniversity of California, San Diego's successfulSummer Bridge Program, whose students participatedin a four week program that provided coursework,time management seminars, and contact with success-ful student peers. Similarly, many articles report onsuccessful partnerships between arts organizationsand schools that benefit high risk youth. In thesearrangements the students are usually directlyinvolved in the performance aspect of artistic produc-tion they are playing instruments, or writing orperforming in plays developing their abilities tocreate art. Johnson and Barry (1993), for example,described a collaboration between the -Ausic programat Auburn University's College of Education andschools designed to garner support and encourage-ment for children from parents, the school, and thecommunity. Soper (1993) chronicled the activities ofWashington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center for thePerforming Arts, which included the promotion ofschool-community partnerships. Safer and Harding(1993) described a program operating in Chicagojunior and senior high schools, called Under Fire, thatused theatre as one venue for students to considerquestions and problems connected with substanceabuse.

There are two important characteristics that dis-tinguish the General College-Penumbra program fromthese models. First, these projects are generally twoway, that is, between either school and college, or

f or further In forma hen f fermi. Collor, 128 Plearwmf SI 5 22))Applehti I fail Onnyr.tru of AIoniesota Moillopolo. AIN .5 S.15ti ip12) h25 53hhft 1,1lowholaromi I, form nit.

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school and community organization. Ours was a threeway collaboration between the students and theirschools, General College, and the theatre. Second,those programs that involved collaboration betweenarts agencies and high risk students had students par-ticipating in the craft of the agency like music, the-atre, or playwriting rather than participating in itsday-to-day management. Our approach was different.We hypothesized that by having students help withthe everyday functions of the theatre, they mightmake important connections with staff who weremore permanent parts of the Theatre than the actors,and we hoped that students would find some "realworld" value for the critical thinking and learningskills they were gathering in the classroom. In thisway, our program also shared characteristics associat-ed with community service projects in which studentsparticipate in "real" work settings in order to establishconnections between the knowledge thev gain inschool and that required in the workplace.

By creating this unique partnership, we hoped notonly to smooth students' transitions from high schoolto postsecondary education, but to do so in a way thatinvolved their home communities. We did so becauseresearch by Bartholomae (1985), Tinto (1993), and oth-ers has shown that students often do not succeed incollege because they feel that their collegiate experi-ence bears little connection lo the communities inwhich they lived previously. Bartholomae suggeststhat if students do not perceive this connection, theyoften "invent" a dysfunctional university for them-selves in which they cannot find a place. As statisticsbleakly remind us, this invention is for many of theunderprepared not supportive students invent auniversity that must fail them, or that they must fail.Tinto (1993) shows that in open admission colleges,28% of part-time studei.ts and 30% of the full-timestudents enrolled do not return for the second year.The figures for public two year colleges, which manyof our students said they might attend, are even lessencouraging: there, 47% of the part time students, and54% of those enrolled full-time, do not return for theirsecond years. Tinto argues that to arrest this, the insti-tution must demonstrate a commitment to studentsby developing an effective educational program thatprovides helpful feedback to students, and must fos-ter a positive and supportive social and intellectualcommunity. An essential part of this effort is mentor-ing, helping students develop a personal connectionwithin the institution.

The Penumbra-General College Program was thusdesigned to ease the transition between secondaryand postsecondary education for high risk students byplacing them in internships in a theatre in their homecommunity, by introducing them to college course-work, and by providing them with mentors both from

the theatre and the college who would work closelywith them on transition issues. In so doing we devel-oped the following postulates:

First, that the mediating agency, PenumbraTheatre, would have a supportive impact on transi-tion issues; that students would find mentoring, intel-lectual engagement, and culturally diverse reinforce-ment in the theatre internships, minimizing whatBrookfield (1995) has called the "impostor partici-pant" syndrome and the "cultural suicide" phenome-non among at-risk students who enter higher educa-tion.

Second, that students would make some connec-tion between the things they grew to value at the the-atre and the introductory coursework in Basic Writingand African American Literature they were engagedin at General College, however indirect this connec-tion might be.

Third, that this community based support andreinforcement would help them make a more success-ful transition into higher education.

The data collected over three years support theclaim that this cooperative model was effective in pro-moting the successful transition of our sample of 60students into postsecondary education. Space limitsprevent a detailed report of data gathered from ques-tionnaires and follo N-up interviews; however, selec-tive representation of qualitative data taken frominterviews allows for "snapshots" of program impact.

On the first question, whether students wouldtind in their internships at the African American the-atre company the sorts of culturally-grounded sup-ports we had imagined being derived from a "homecommunity" mediating agency, students said surpris-ingly consistent, positive things, represented by thefollowing:

"I think that Penumbra, especially I the artisticdirector] feels that it's important to bring young peo-ple from the community into the theatre, and, youknow, if they're interested to get them to know howthe theatre is and how it works and how it runs."

"Blacks work easier with Blacks, they work easierwith minorities in general, I guess it's how I wasraised....I think it's good that Blacks he taught byBlacks. The younger generation should be taught bythe older generation because they've already gonethrough it, so they can relate and show them theway.... I guess it's good to have something whereBlacks are organizing everything. I'm proud to beinvolved."

"Most of their plays have to do with AfricanAmericans.... I thought I could learn more, I thought

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that maybe working with African American playscould teach me more."

Whether talking to theatre staff, completing workat the theatre that they felt had some connection totheir coursework, or simply working among a pre-dominantly African American staff, students reportedthe experience to be extremely valuable because theyfelt welcomed and comfortable at the theatre.

On the second question, whether students wouldmake connections between work at the theatre anddemands at the college and find some connectionsamong the strengths tapped by each, students weresimilarly positive, even though staff were careful notto assert that such links existed. After some initialorganizational glitches THAT students were criticalabout, they did indeed see a strong connection inareas such as personal responsibility: "Work ]at thetheatre] made me think about my responsibilities a lotmore, like where I'm supposed to be, getting to placeson time. We had to get our own books, go to the book-store and buy them, buy our disks. If you didn't knowhow to use the IBM lin the writing class] you had tolearn how to use it. It wasn't just handed to you. Youhad to do it for yourself." For some, the connectionswere very practical: "Interning with the theatre's pub-lic relations person, I wanted to become a better writerand in my writing class I worked hard to do that." Forothers the connections were more abstract, althoughequally powerful: "The program teaches us throughthe Black person's eyes, the Black person's views. Andthat's what I think I was really learning."

On the third question, whether the mediatingagency of community based support and reinforce-ment would help make for a more successful transi-tion, students gave unqualified, overwhelmingly posi-tive responses. For some students, the program madethe difference between attending college and notattending. One student reported that he was "prettyburned out from high school," but that after partici-pating in the program "I was treated like I was impor-tant, I got good responses, I enjoyed the work. Untilthat happened, I hadn't understood the true differencebetween college and high school. And it made meanxious to go to college." Others reported seeing thecombination of academic, social, and cultural prepara-tion as instrumental:

I think the program prepared me for col-lege. Academically, it taught me responsibility

no one's harping at you about your work,you had to do it yourself. You had to handleyour own responsibilities. Social lyc it preparedme too. High school is a totally differentthing. Taking classes at the U socially pre-pared me because in high school it's the pop-u la ri ty contest. In college, you're there on

your own...you were equal with everyone,and had to do things yourself.

We also found an additional benefit, that studentsbecame more adept at articulating the ideas theybrought to the academy in a discourse more appropri-ate to it. At the theatre, they found reinforcement forthose ideas, and in the college courses, they learned toexpress them using conventional academic discourse.

Our follow-up research indicates that this kind ofprogram can be remarkably beneficial for students atrisk of not so-cessfully making the transition to highereducation. It allows them to feel connected to an orga-nization in their home communities that helps to vali-date their knowledge and expression; it helps themrealize that they can function as themselves in a post-secondary setting; and it helps them learn how toarticulate their ideas in a way that is acceptable withinthe academy as neither "impostor" nor "cultural sui-cide."

ReferencesBartholomae, D. (1985). Inventing the' universitij. In M.

Rose (ed.), When a writer can't write: Studies in writer's blockand other composing problems (pp. 134-165). New York: Guilford.

Bloomfield, W. (1989). Career beginnings: Helping disadvan-taged youth aillietw their potential. Fastback publication 293.Bloonangton, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.

Brookfield, S. (1995, February). The other side of the mirror:Developmental educators as adult learners. Keynote address at themeetiag of the National Association for Developnwntal Education,Clacago, IL.

Buck, C. (1985). Summer bridge: A residential learning expe-rience for high risk freshmen at the Llniversity of-California, SanDiego. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 264 462)

johnson, R. & Barry, N. (199.3). The arts and the at-riskchild: A school (Jail community partnership. School CommunityJournal. 3(2), 63.70.

Safer, A. & I larding C. (199.3). Under pressure' program:Using lwe theatre to inz,est Igoe adolescent's attitudes and behav-ior related la drug and al(ohol alnt,e. Mutat wn. and ireventton.Ado1es;cence,_2ti (109), 1.35-148.

Soper, S (1993) 13inUng t 00)111-A1r- Tordwri;Tlwatic 4. (4), 1-2.

1 into. V (1993). Leavnwcollcge (2nd ed.) Chicago:werql y of CimiNo

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SLIECTED CONFERENCE PAPER5 1995

Tutor Training Enhanced ByKnowledge Of Tutee Expectations

Joan L. Krabbe Mark A. Krabbe

Abstract

A comparison of tutees' and classroom students' perceptions of tutors and instructors provides ideas for improvmg tutortraining. Tlie results indicate that tutees have different needs and expectatUms than classroom students. Tutees expectgreater personal relationships, while classroom students expect grl'ater skills in teaching and presentation of material.

Curre.

nt practices in college learning centers indi-cate that some learning center staff hire anystudent with a grade of A or B in a particular

course to tutor a struggling student. Tutor trainingocc i. s only after the tutor begins tutoring. The idea isto provide struggling students with some kind of aca-demic support as quickly as possible so that the strug-gling student does not "lose heart" or give up indefeat. In fact, many tutors work with tutees in atutoring situation without ever getting any specializedtraining. When training does take place, the typicaltutor training includes listening skills, note takingskills, learning styles, questioning techniques, test tak-ing skills and various reading skills.

Research reported by Hunter Boylan (1993)revealed that tutoring was effective only to the extentthat tutors were trained. Martha Maxwell (1990)reported that training for tutors was important. Gierand Hancock (1993) ideniified the key topics thatshould be covered in typical tutor training programs.They are (a) communication skills, (b) communica-tion/listening, (c) functional fixedness, (d) role model-ing and problem solving, and (e) empathy training.

Although many programs throughout the UnitedStates address these skills, Ross MacDonald (1991)focused his research on the actual communication,both verbal and nonverbal, between tutor and tutee.MacDonald's study seems to imply that the most sig-nificant behavior of tutor with tutee is the communi-cation, both verbal and nonverbal, that occursbetween the two of them. He made no reference to thetraining that the tutors had prior to his evaluating

their tutorials, yet it is reasonable to believe that thecommunication would reflect how much a tutorknows about learning and about the subject matterbeing tutored. In the light of these research efforts itappears that success or failure, at least in the eves ofthe tutor and tutee, has much to do with the expecta-tions that the tutee has upon entering into the tutoringcontract. The literature, however, does not reveal anystudy that looked at what tutees like, dislike, andexpect from their tutors.

The objective of this study was to determine iftutees have different expectations of tutors than class-room students have of instructors in order to findways to enhance tutor training. The specific questionswere (a) what do tutees and classroom students likebest about their tutors and instructors? (b) what dotutees and classroom students like least about theirtutors and instructors? and (c) what do tutees andclassroom students expect from their tutors andinstructors?

Fifty-five tutees who used the Office of LearningAssistance for tutoring during the Spring and FallSemesters of 1994, and seventy-five classroom stu-dents of junior and senior standing responded to aquestionnaire consisting of three open-ended ques-tions asking them what they liked best and leastabout, as well as expected, from their tutors andinstructors. Students responded revealing their per-ceptions and feelings about all their tutors and alltheir instructors.

Classroom students responded that they likeinstructors who are interested in them and are compu-

fi,rthe, t 1 Itr9144. III: ,t;o1ev 1:d11* 51,,pilill:trr,,au ( P1e.4 2,14

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51LfCTLOCOM I RINCE PAPERS. 1995

tent teachers, who are knowledgeable, fair, enthusias-tic, and well organized. Tutees responded that theylike tutors who are friendly, helpful and able toexplain ideas thoroughly because they are knowledge-able, interesting, positive, punctual and dedicated.

Eighty-seven percent of the tutees like best thepersonality of their tutors, responding that the tutorsare friendly, easy to talk to, anderstanding, andpatient. Sixty-eight percent considered that the bestthing about their tutors is that the tutors are helpful ingiving suggestions on papers/assignments, goingover homework, providing extra information, andgiving advice and study tips.

In response to the question "What did you likeleast about your instructors?" classroom studentsresponded that they do not like instructors who arearrogant, inflexible, unfair in testing/evaluation, bor-ing and poor teachers who are not organized and notavailable. Tutees provided little data about their dis-likes of tutors. Sixty-four percent of the tutees indicat-ed that there is nothing to dislike about their tutors.The limited data the tutees did provide indicate thatthey do not like tutors who are not knowledgeableand not flexible with tutoring time.

Classroom students expect their instructors to beknowledgeable, personable, interesting teachers whoare fair, interested in students, challenging, organizedand dedicated. Tutees expect tutors to be helpful,friendly and able to explain the material clearly.Ninety percent of the tutees said they expect theirtutors to answer their questions, to help them withhomework and class problems, and to prepare thei,-,for tests. Twenty-five percent of the tutees mentionedbeing friendly and understanding, and twenty percentsaid they expect their tutors to be able to explain thematerial clearly.

When comparing what classroom students likebest about their instructors and what tutees like bestabout their tutors, the data indicate that classroomstudents like instructors who are good teachers, whoare knowledgeable, competent in teaching skills, andwell organized. Tutees, however, prefer tutors whohave good personality characteristics such as beingfriendly, helpful, positive, punctual and dedicated.

The relatively few tutees who did indicate thatthey did not like certain aspects of their tutors statedthat tilt: tutors were not knowledgeable and flexible.They also stated characteristics under the categorythat tutors did not have pleasing personalities.

Classroom students did not hesitate to indicatewhat they did not like about their instructors. They donot like closed-minded, unfair, boring instructors whoare unrealistic and incompetent, and not personable. Itis interesting to note that classroom students like

instructors who are good teachers and do not likeinstructors who do not have good personality charac-teristics. On the other hand tutees seem to like tutorswho are personable and do not like tutors who are notknowledgeable and flexible.

The majority of tutees expect their tutors to befriendly and helpful. The data indicate that tuteeshave greater expectations of the tutor to be more per-sonable than to be good teachers with a lot of knowl-edge. Classroom students, however, expect instructorsto be knowledgeable, interesting teachers, fair in eval-uations, and organized.

A comparison of these responses indicates thattutor-training needs to be more than merely providingtutors who are knowledgeable and able to explainideas like good teachers. The responses suggest thefollowing recommendations for tutor-training: (a)when selecting tutor-candidates, the LearningAssistance staff needs to take into consideration theirpersonality, (b) the academic ability of tutor-candi-dates needs to be measured by more than just an "A"or "B" in the course they will tutor. (c) tutor-trainingshould include study skills and test-taking techniquesthat can be taught to the tutee, (d) tutor-trainingshould include activities to help the tutor developcommunication and personal skills, (e) tutor- trainingshould include practice on how to encourage andmotivate the tutee, (f) tutor-training should stress theimportance of being flexible and punctual, and (g)tutor-training should provide the tutor with theopportunity to develop positive and enthusiastic atti-tudes.

In summary, tutor-training needs to preparetutors who have pleasant, friendly personalities; whoare able to communicate to and listen to tutees; whoare knowledgeable and have the ability to explain atthe tutees' level; and who have positive and enthusi-astic attitudes.

ReferencesBoylan, II. (1 991 October). Research in developmental edu-

catioir I lighlights of a national study. Paper presented at themeeting of the Ohio Association for Developmental Education,Toledo, Ohio.

Gwr, T. & Hancock, K 99.3, (Jctober). Tutor trainingPaper presented at the meeting ef the Ohio Asssociation forL)evebtpniental Education, Toledo, Ohio.

MacDonald, R. B. (1991). An analysis of verbal interactionill college tutorials. Journal (1- Derelopmental Education, 15 2-12.

Maxwell, M (1990). Does tutoring help? A look at the litera-ture. Review of Research m Developmental Education, 7 141,1-5.

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SLI I CTLOCONE I RI NCE PAPERS I99S

Supplemental Instruction in Biologyat the College Level

Ofra N. Peled Anna C. Kim

Abstract

Supplemental Instruction (SD in biology at a multicultural university campus was found to significantly increase studentachievement. To avoid the bias of the conventional method of assessing the success of SI, exam grades of whole classes with SItutors were compared to those of classes without tutors.

Supplemental Instruction (SI), a form of peertutoring, is an integrative model of student acad-emic support, which was developed and tested

during the mid 1970s at the University of Missouri(Blanc, De Buhr, and Martin, 1983). It is a process-product paradigm that determines its success on thefinal outcome, that is, on the grades of students whoattend the SI sessions. It has been implemented at 150institutions of higher education (National Center forSupplemental Instruction [NCSII, 1994) includingNational Louis University (NLU).

The population of NLU's urban campus has ahigh percentage of returning adults, non-native speak-ers, and students of color, Approximately 20% of thestudents are Black, 10% Hispanic, and 6% Asian.These percentages are about three times higher thanthe minority percentages in Garland's study (1987).

The primary purpose of the tutorial sessions atNLU is to help less able students improve their per-formance in high-risk courses. The SI leaders, ortutors, are students who have successfully completedthe course they tutor and are recommended by theinstructor. At NLU most of the SI tutors in biologyhave been students intending to major in elementaryeducation. Although they take biology as part of theirgeneral education requirement and before enteringthe education program, they have an inclinationtoward teaching, to be patient, open, interested, andmotivated.

I Pt :`,,e.!;t

Previously the success of SI tutorial sessions hasbeen determined only by comparing the grades of stu-dents who attended tutorials with grades of studentswho did not attend tutorials within the same class(Blanc,DeBuhr, & Martin,1983; Lundeberg, 1990,Martin & Arendale, 1991; NCSI, 1994). However,attendance at the tutorials according to the SI model isvoluntary. Because this is a self-selected group withinthe same class, it is to be expected that their gradeswill be different, and drawing any conclusions fromtheir different grades is liable to be grossly biasedComparisons of grades of students within the sameclass would be meaningful only if the two groupswere randomly assigned.

Within the classes that had a tutor, the studentswho attended Litorials received grades that were onaverage 12% higher than students who did not attendany tutorials. This is about twice as much as theimprovement of about one-half a letter grade foundby Garland (1987) and NCSI (1994). However, suchdiffermces are not necessarily attributed to the tutori-al sessions. Of course, many of these higher gradesmay reflect the interest, motivation, time devoted tostudy, and other characteristics of the self-selectedgroup of students who choose to attend tutorials.

We compared the average grades of the 14 classesThe 92 students in the five classes with a tutor aver-aged 74.1, while the 140 students in nine classes with-out a tutor averaged 67.6.

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The classes were taught by the same instructorsusing the same text and the same syllabus. Each classtook two midterms and a final exam. The final testgrade was the unweighted average of the three testscalculated in percentage points. Final letter gradeswere not used in the present study as recommendedin the SI model because the final grades includedpoints for the less objective laboratory reports, home-work problems, and oral reports. The actual testgrades are more objective and comparable measuresof knowledge because the scores are percentages ofcorrect replies to a sample from a pool of questions.

The difference in the average grade of the twogroups was 6.5 percentage points. The two groupswere significantly different to a 0.05 confidence levelas tested by the Mann-Whitney U-test (Siegel, 1956).Classes with a tutor had more students with highergrades, and the classes without a tutor had more stu-dents with lower grades.

To statistically analyze the grades, low grades(those below 60%) and high grades (those above 80%)were examined. We found by means of a Chi squaretest that there was a significant correlotion betweenclasses with a tutor and the achievement of highgrades. This was true for both the high grade groupsand the low grade groups to a 1% confidence level.Other investigators (Blanc,DeBuhr, & Martin,l983)showed that the percentage of failures and with-drawals decreases along with an increase of atten-dance in SI sessions. In our classes, the attendance inthe tutorial sessions ranged from 54o to 75%. Theaverage number of sessions attended by any studentvaried from 3.2 to 7.3. Presumably, if all students hadattended all sessions, the improvement of the averagegrade would he more extensive than that observed.

In conclusion, neither our approach of comparingthe achievements of whole classes with and without atutor, nor the SI method of comparing achievement ofstudents who did or did not attend tutorials, gives afull account of the potential of the SI program. Ourapproach reflects the effect of the tutor, but certainlyunderestimates the maximum impact that may begained from tutorials. But both methods of assessingsuccess demonstrate considerably higher successrates. These results should encourage students toattend SI sessions in incr;:asing numbers and moreregularly.

References

Blanc, R. A., De Buhr. L.E.. & Martin, D. C. (1983).Breaking the attritum cycle: The effects of supplemental instruc-turn on undergraduate performance and attrition. Journal ofHigher Education, 54(1), 80-90.

Garland, M. (1987). Research study on lectiveness of sup-plemental instruction (SI) with minority students. SupplementalInstruction Technical Report #87-1. Kansas City, MO: UniversityEy. Missouri-Kansas City, Center for Academic Development.

Lundeberg, M. A. (1990). Supplemental instruction in chem-istry. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 27(2).145-155.

Marlin, D. C., & Arendale, D. A. (1991). Supplementalinstruction: Improving student performance, increasing studentpersistence. (ERIC Document ReproductMn Service No. ED 327103)

National Center for Supplemental Instruction. (1994).Svpidemental instruction. Kansas City, MO: University ofMissouri-Kansas City, Center for Academic Development.

Swgel, S. (1956). Nolwarioniqrk statistics for the behavioralsciences. New York: McGraw-I1111.

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SELECTEDCONF RENO. PAPERS, 1995

Building Mathematical Understanding:From Counting to Chaos

Patrick Perdew Jennie Preston-Sabin Bonnie M. Hodge

Abstract

Mathematics instructors at all levels must be keenly aware of the need for students to make real world connections. Instructors must gobeyond tnmimum skill levels and provide opportumties.for students to explore mathematics. This paper .kuses 00 the impleineinat ion of long

term assignments in mathematics classes

nany students do not appreciate the relatio-ship that exists between mathematics in theclassroom and the mathematics found in

their out-of-class activities. Mathematics instructors atall levels must be aware of the need for students tomake connections between pencil and paper computa-tions and real world applications. Placement in adevelopmental mathematics course may be L I uc t .o astudent's lack of interest and negatively reinforcingexperiences, rather than a lack of ability. "Teachers atall educational levels should have the expectation thatstudents from all segments of the population can hesuccessful in mathematics. The teacher is in a keyposition to stimulate and encourage all students tocontinue the study of mathematics" (National Councilof Teachers of Mathematics, 1994, p.18). Therefore,instructors must be willing to go beyond producingminimum skill levels and provide students with theopportunity to explore mathematics. Students, inaddition to demonstrating proficiency in basic alge-braic procedures, should demonstrate growth in theirunderstanding of mathematics in the real world.

Long-term projects show students mathematics inits best light, much like reading courses expose stu-dents to classical literature rather than just sentencesin a grammar book. Long-term projects also provide aform of alternative assessment besides traditionalexams and quizzes. This presentation focused on theimplementation and use of long-term project ,. in thedevelopmental mathematics classroom.

The assessment of the long-term projects wasbased on two main factors: (a) whether the studenthad made connections to mathematics outside theclassroom, and (h) whether the student had grown asa result of the research and problem solving used inthe project. At the beginning of the semester, studentswere given guidelines for the long-term assignment asprovided in Figure 1, as well as the grading scale was

Figure 1. Outline of the requirements for stu-dent project

I. Project ProposalA. Detailed outlineB. Answers to the following questions

1. Why did you choose this topic?2. flow will you research the information?3. What do you expect to be your outcome?

II. ProjectA. Cover pageB. Written report - APA guidelines

1. Narrative - one page minimum2. Evidence of mathematics -

two page minimumC. Reference pageD. Presentation of research findings

1. Poster display2. Videotape presentation

provided in figure 2. The students could choose anymath related topic that interested them, or from a

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SELECTED CONFERENCE PAPLRS, 1995

Figure 2. Sample grading

Grading Rubric

5 pts Project Proposal10 pts Quality of Presentation10 pts Mathematical Conten:10 pts Depth of Research15 pts General

list of suggested topics they were given.

First, the student was required to submit a pro-posal and outline for the project. The final proje 't wasdue near the end of the semester and required both awritten report and a presentation of the results. Thewritten portion had to consist of a narrative explain-ing the topic and a mathematics section showing theequations and formulas used in the research. Theresults of the project had to be presented using eithera poster board display or a video tape presentation.Students were encouraged to be thorough in theresearch for their project and creative in the presenta-tion of their results. The students were required toshow evidence of logical reasoning; mathematics hadto be the focus of their project.

The results from the implementation of the long-term assignment have been exciting. Students com-pleted an evaluation form about this new courserequirement. One student wrote, "At first, it vas justan assignment for class. But as I started doing the pro-ject, I became interested in what I was doing. Itbecame important to me." Another student comment-ed, "I have had a chance to experience something newwithout a teacher teaching it to me. I learned on myown." Students have come to their instructor's officeto discuss ideas, rather than just personal difficultiesand problems. Researching topics from counting therevolutions of a bicycle wheel to determine gear ratio,to investigating patterns and basic chaos theory, stu-dents have become excited about making connectionsbetween an academic subject and real life. Drawingfrom their own rich life experiences to do their pro-jects, students have taught instructors about suchdiverse topics as quilting patterns and the Blackhawkhelicopter. The long-term project has changed the stu-dents' focus in developmental math classes frombeing concerned only with getting the right answer tousing mathematics as a powerful tool in everydayproblem solving situations. Also, as a form of alterna-tive assessment, this assignment alleviated some of

the pressure from students who experience test anxi-ety.

Finally, these projects have enabled students toanswer the persistent questions, "Why do I need toknow this?" and "Where will I ever use this?" forthemselves.

Reference

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (1994). 1994-95 Handout: National Council of Teaachers of Mathematics goals,leaders, and positions. Reston, VA: Author.

31

SI LCTFOCONFERINCE PAPERS. l'I4S

Educating Postsecondary Studentswith Learning Disabilities

Linda Schnapp

Abstract

This paper is intended for faculty and staff in higher education who work with students with learning disabilities. The issuesto be discussed include defining and assessing learning disabilities, identifying specific curriculum strategies, determiningreasonable accomnwdations, and improving faculty and staff attitudes toward the student with learning disabilities.

By the late 1980s, two trends were apparent in the post-secondary education of students with learning disabili-ties. First, service providers in many colleges and uni-

versities Were being inundated by the large number of learn-ing disabled students requiring servicen Second, a dispro-portionate number of students with learning e:isabilitieswere ,-..ztending two-year colleges as compared to unive. '-hes. As a result, personnel at the community colleges werefrequently finding themselves confronting a large number ofdifferent issues in their attempts to meet the needs of post-secondary students with learning disabilities.

The issues that community college personnel have beendealing with since the 1980s are of various kinds. The firstissue is related to the lack of clarity inherent in the label"learning disability." Although the term "learning disability"was first defined in 1963, educators today are still strugglingto understand its meaning. In speaking about learning dis-abilities, Moats and Lyon (1993) state, "Even a cursoryperusal of the literature...reveals that the field has been, andcontinues to be, beset by pervasive and, at times, contentiousdisagreements about definitions, diagnostic criteria, assess-ment practices..." (p. 282). Moreover, even students withlearning disabilities frequently dc not understand the nature.of their disabilities, Many come to college. without documen-tation or with documentation that does not clearly spell outthe. areas in which the student demonstrates specific process-ing difficulties. Because experience has taught students withlearning disabilities to focus on their learning weaknesses.they frequently do not know their learning strengths. Suchstudents often develop low self-concepts, causing Own, toexperieme an excessive degree. ot anxiety and depression(1 luntington iir Bender, 1993). 1 bus, they may demonstrateless motivation to succeed acadenocalle than students whodo not have disabilities.

I :1!.!,! :11,1,1`x!,1,1V Pr!..

Second, some students with learning disabilities havedifficulty in accepting their disability. They appear to eitherdeny their disability or to be overconfident. This situationmay be most commonly found among those students whohave received a great deal of support from special educationpersonnel while they were in high school (MangrumSt richart, 1984).

Third, like many freshmen, students with learning dis-abilities may not have developed the independence theyneed to adjust to college. They do not know how to self-iden-tify, to seek out appropriate support services, or to identifysuitable accommodations or modifications.

Fourth, many college students with learning disabilitieslack the necessary academic preparation to succeed in col-lege. Others have not developed the study skills required forsuccess. For many, a decision will have to be made by thoseoffering support at the college. level as to whether the prima-ry emphasis should be. on the remediation of basic skills oron subject-matter tutoring (Adelman, O'Connell, Konrad, S.rVogel, 1993).

Fifth, college students with learning disabilities oftentace the challenge ot gaining and maintaining the acceptanceand cooperation of academic faculty. Even those facultymembers who support accommodations for students withsensory and ph sical disabilities may take a negative.approach to accommodations for students with learning dis-abilities (Leyser, 198), N1inner & Vrater, 1984).

postsecondary service providers must makesense. of the variables requirements of Section 504 withregard to who qualifies as a handicapped person. The ambi-guity of this law has resulted in confusion concerning theextent of the reasonable. accommodations or moditicatiensthat must be made to serve individuals with disabilities.

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SC LEC1 CD CONFERENCE PAPERS, 1995

These issues present colleges and universities, particu-larly community colleges, with a significant ethical problem.Students pay their tuition assuming that they have thepotential to succeed and to benefit from taking course's.Therefore, it is ethically imperative that the administrativestaff and the faculty of the college enhance the likelihood ofstudent success by accepting the challenges inherent in help-ing students deal with their disabilities. Specific steps maybe taken to achieve this goal.

The first challenge to be met is the establishment of cri-teria for the identification of students with learning disabili-ties. Additional psychological evaluations may be requiredto determine which individuals are actually learning dis-abled and to identify the learning strengths and weaknessesof these students. Because standardized, reliable, and validdiagnostic instruments are scarce (Moats & Lyon, 1993), thediagnostician will have to be skillful in eliciting importantqualitative information during the testing. Further informa-tion about the functioning level of the students may begained from informal curriculum-based assessment practices(Warde & Bryant, 1993).

The next step is to use the' information obtained fromthe assessment to help students with learning disabilities toplan their academic programs. Careful academic planningshould be based on the advisor's knowledge and under-standing of the subject of learning disabilities and of the' spe-cific student's strengths and weaknesses, processing deficits,and learning style. Course selection should also be based oninformation about the course itself. The following issue'sshould be taken into consideration: (a) the way the coursefits into the departmental sequence of courses; (b) the levelof difficulty of the course; (c) the prerequisite's or assumedbackground knowledge and skills of the course', and (d) themethods of instruction and evaluation. The student might beasked to read the course description and syllabus in advanceand, whenever possible, to speak to the instructor personallyabout these issues as well as about the reading load, thecourse requirements, and the frequency and method of eval-uation (Vogel, 1982).

Accommodations and modifications are offered to stu-dents with learning disabilities so that they will be able tolearn and to demonstrate mastery of course material withinthe restraints imposed by their perceptual handicaps. Moststudents with learning disabilities need accommodations inat least one of four areas: reading, language', mathematics,and test-taking. Accommodations that could help students tominimize the impact of their deficits might include: (a) tapedtextbooks; (b) prehighlighted textbooks; (c) tape recorders totape lectures; (d) untimed or extended time tests, and (e) areader for objective exams. Students may not require thesame accommodations in all course's

Faculty members who are concerned about compronus-ing the academic integrity of their course's may be less will-ing to provide accommodations or modificat'ans. This issuemay be dealt with by encouraging faculty members tobecome involved in the development, implementation, andevaluation of accommodations. Faculty members may be

assured that they do not have to be overwhelmed by thepresence of students with learning disabilities in the class-room; in many cases, they merely have to arrange for or toallow the accommodations needed by the student. When aninstructor is not receptive to a student's needs, the sAidentmay require an advocate. Advisors can assist students inexploring instructor or course alternatives, but these are notalways available or appropriate.

Another issue that arises is whether to spend tutorialsessions on basic skills instruction or subject specific tutor-ing. Since time is of the essence, one approach to this issuemight be to integrate the two by using the student's course-work to help the student acquire skills. Students are mostconcerned with successfully completing class assignments;therefore, they are more motivated to work on material thatis directly related to their classwork (Adelman, O'Connell,Konrad, & Vogel, 1993).

Although it will be a challenge for administrative staffand faculty to provide equal opportunities for college stu-dents with learning disabilities, the important point toremember is that they can succeed in college. Action must betaken today to actively address those' issues in the field ofpostsecondary education that may be resolved, includingissues of definition, assessnwnt, and service delivery.

References

Adom,m, p B °Connell, J kourad, , & VeI S A. (1993) he

integration rentediation and liblet I-Mtater tutorttN Support at ihe ctilh.ge level S A Vogel & P B Adelman (Eds.), Saael:Eforlollegelaur.dents with learnmg di.abilit tel. (pp 2(to- 2.(9) New l'ork Springer-Verlag

Hunt ington, 1) I), & Bender, LA N. (1993). Adolescents with (earn-ing disabilities at risk' Emotional in.!! being, depression, suicide. Lwow!4 LeargatgViNtEdifiez._2e, 150) 1 bo.

Leyser, Y. 11989) A survey of faculty attitudes and accommodationstor students with disaluht ws. feitrnal QU'ol;Lecoridarsy LitucatioilamlVisabilittes, 7, 97-108

Mangrum, C. T. & Strui hart. S S. (1984) Cellese. and the learningib:atged:titilettl, Orlando, I L.. Grune Strattint

11 firmer, 5 . & Prater, ( ; (1,184). College teal her's elpectat ions of LI)tudents Ajiikatidlicrary,,,,,LL 225-22g.

Aloat,, L c 11,0,,,G N (19q3) I earning Ili thelbuted States. Adi,ocatu. .11,mie. and the future ot the lucid Journal 4isariimg 01-alulities.:t. 282 294

Vogel. S .4 q52) ()it ilei.eloroig 11) program, /clonal 0.1Loniung s o',;, I -,, '45 525

Warde. ,4 p Itniaut ) I PN ue analtp.l, fit lit,r1tits lcttbooi 111110It With led,t;e I I) 1.,911.,!t, 18. 17 21

33

SELLCTED ERLNCE PAPERS 1995

Integration of BasicComposition and Reading

Caroline Stern

Abstract

One way to better serve developmental students is to immerse them in a learning setting that academically integrates co-req-uisite but separate basic reading and writing classes. Students can learn to synthesize information across the curriculumwhen this process is modeled and reinforced by lesson plans and collaborative learning that blend basic writing and readingassignments.

So much to do! So little time! What developmentaleducator has not looked at the profile of in-corn-ing students and thought this? And with the

pressures of shrinking budgets, looming outcomesassessment, and an increasingly academically at-riskstudent population, teachers have to be creative intheir problem solving. Research has long proves theimportant connection between reading and writingskills, but have we made the most of that connectionin the way we traditionally teach those two subjects inhigher education?

At Ferris State University, we wanted to testwhether we could improve the performance of ourentering freshmen with low tes scores and highschool grade point averages by placing them in co-requisite, academically integrated basic reading andwriting courses where each teacher taught her ownclass, but used cross-curricular strategies to immersethe student in material that flowed across the curricu-lum. Our goal was to teach students how to synthe-size information from both subjects by modeling thatprocess in our syllabi, lesson plans, and assessmentinstruments.

Previous to this, our basic writing classes hadrelied on self-reflective writing and personal narrativeas a primary mode for teaching composition. Weknew that the drawback to this is that professionaland academic writing typically do not use this modeof development. But our developmental studentscould not write an informed response paper because

most had trouble understanding the reading thatcould inform a response. Likewise, the reading teach-ers knew that written response improves reading abil-ity, but it takes considerable time to teach and gradeextended writ,en response. Out of this mutual frustra-tion, we decided to initiate a trial project involving theacademic integration of one reading and one writingclass.

We agreed to target a group of eighteen studentswho would use the same core reading material as thebasis of instruction for their writing and reading class-es. Students were enrolled in co-requisite, but separatereading and writing classes. To facilitate this, we hadthe summer orientation staff place an "entry by per-mit" designation on the sections to control enrollment.Students were willing to take the linked classesbecause they formed a neatly bundled, convenientlyscheduled set of required classes. They also liked theidea of having to buy only one textbook for two class-es. We used The Thoughtful Reader by Mary Fjeldstad(1994) as our shared text. This book worked better forthe reading class than the writing class because it didnot have extended writing assignments or sections onthe writing process; however, it did have a thematicformat that we used as an organizing element for theclasses.

We laid the foundation for the classes by reachingagreement on core teaching and testing strategies,cognitive and affective learning goals, and studentresponsibility. We had the same attendance policy,u,,ed a shared writing portfolio, scheduled periodic

frorthr ittformattort mutt', I t rtnthue stern I )ept 14 I Imsuagr mid I iteraturr UI I s %for SI rrrf I rm.. Slate I butprolv Hog Raphk.A11 4g ill; VI2 241;

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SELECTED CONFERENCE PAPERS, 1995

individual conferences with students to discuss theirprogress, and employed collaborative groups as ateaching and learning method.

We followed this by creating syllabi and lessonplans organized around two week long thematic unitsallowing the reading class to cover a series of articleswith short written responses. Simultaneously, the co-requisite writing class covered the same theme byguiding students through a single extended responseto the readings in each unit.

This approach to reading created a unity so thatstudents could compare how different authorsapproached the same general subject. In the writingclass, the students were asked to write extendedresponses to the articles as a thematic unit. Becausethe reading teacher guided students through the read-ings, they gained a clearer understanding of the mate-rial that created a new resource for topic developmentin their essays. It was the.first time some of these stu-dents wene empowered to move beyond writing thatwas purely self-reflective to writing that was trulyinformed by a variety of authors.

Another benefit of the academic integration wasthat the reading class introduced and explained acces-sible reading models that students studied and coulduse to better understand the structure of an essay.Students studied , for example, professional models ofintroduction and conclusion strategies, developmenttechniques, and thesis/topic sentence outlining at alevel and intensity that would not be possible in awriting class. The writing class gave students theguided opportunity to make practical application ofthese lessons in their own compositions. What wastaught in one class was directly reinforced and prac-ticed in the other.

The academic integration also facilitated assign-ments like summary writing. Up to this time, summa-ry writing had not been taught in most basic writingclasses because it required too much class time devot-ed to identifying the main ideas in a reading. But withthis type of preparation accomplished in the readingclass, the writing teacher could easily require summa-ry writing and use it to teach essay structure, develop-ment strategies, and logic.

If we expect students to synthesize informationacross the curriculum, it follows that classes thatmodel and practice that synthesis for the st lentsshould be especially helpful. Using a writing portfolioallowed the students to make a visual connectionbetween the two subjects. Students wrote journals inresponse to their reading assignnwnts. ley

their response to reading as prewriting and brain-storming material for their longer essays. Short read-ing responses were expanded and consolidated to cre-ate longer essays. Vocabulary tests became a type ofthesaurus for their essays.

Another benefit of academic integration is eteacher conferencing opportunities. Because of ourprogram's intrusive advising approach, teachers didnot breach a student's privacy rights when they con-ference to gain a more complete picture of studentperformance, ability, and attitude. Teachers wereempowered to be better advisors because they hadmore diagnostic information about each student. Itwas essential that the teachers made it clear to stu-dents that there was a shared philosophy in teachingas well as a dedication to the students' well being anddevelopment as educated people.

Teaching at-risk students is very demanding andthe support network that can develop in a situationlike this, especially in regards to specific challeng'ngstudents, goes a long way toward preventing teacherburn-out. The integrated approach gave us addedinsight because we pooled our abilities and used eachother's strengths to find the best in each student andin ourselves.

Because developmental students have so much toaccomplish, it is important to protect them from burn-out also. The paired courses allowed the teachers tocoordinate and monitor the work load for each classto more evenly distribute assignments so studentsworked at a steady, managed rate. Consistency inwork load is not a mirror of typical college classes, butit was very beneficial to tilt. developmental studentsbecause it lowered stress levels and allowed them togive more focused and balanced attention to theirhomework.

The academic integration also benefits students inthe affective realm. The classes were scheduled con-secutively in the same room, so we cut down on tardi-ness, at least in the second class. Both teachers usedcollaborative groups to build cohesion in the class.The test group was academically homogeneous, butsocially diverse. Students had to learn to work withthat diversity because for seven hours out of the weekthere was no escaping it. While some complained thatthey were not exposed to the full diversity of collegelife, others appreciated the more familiar environmentthat empowered them to express themselves in agroup with which they were familiar. The cama-raderie of the group lead to a stronger community oflearner. I hey informally created a "buddy svt;tem"

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SH CU CONE 1.1aNCE PAIIRS. 19,15

that was more sophisticated than any we had seen inindividual classes. Students were together enough toidentify and employ the roles that each student bestserved. They formed study groups both formally inclass and independently, thus providing guidance forone another by being back-up sources for doinghomework. While students developed a more sophis-ticated network for learning, some also developed amore sophisticated network for cheating. This did notoccur until late in the semester and assignments hadto be adjusted to discourage this behavior.

Because we had an attendance policy that made itpossible for students to fail the class before the end ofthe semester, we were concerned that we would havea student still enrolled in one class while having failedthe other. This happened to two students. Failing oneclass and not attending it did put them at more risk offailing the second class, so in this sense the integrationcreated a higher risk for students, but it also created agreater incentive for students to do well in both class-es. We had a very low rate of students skipping oneclass and not the other.

Our statistics show for those students who stayedin both classes, there was a higher reward. The sectionof paired reading and writing showed lower drop andfailure rates than the general population and a higherretention rate for the following semester. Our pilotproject of just one group of eighteen students is toosmall to use as a basis for broader action, but thiscoming fall we will be testing this model of readingand writing academic integration on another group ofstudents before expanding the model.

We did learn that for the teachers, "two headswere better than one." The success of this project,though on a small scale, has encouraged other teach-ers in our developmental classes to look for new waysto solve the problem of having so much to do and solittle time.

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SFLECTEO CONFERENCE PAPERS. 1995

Activities to Promote Achievementamong Mathematics Students

Pamela V. Thomas Jeanne L. Higbee

ABSTRACT

Many parted activities were introduced into an acadenui assistance matlumiatics class by a team two faculty members, the regular acad-OWL' aSSINtaliCC teaCher :Ma a Incinber of the tounscling fat ultv. The purpose of these activities was to teach the stu-dents to work cooperatuvlu, to be petVit'llt, to wl f confident e, mid tO Succesqul in nuithemaths.

algebra courses are often the pivot pointof the revolving door in colleges and universi-ties. Developmental mathematics classes must

prepare at-risk students to successfully comp!, jerequired college algebra courses. During the 1993-94academic Year the Academic Assistance mathematicsfaculty at the University of Georgia developed a newtwo quarter sequence of mathematics for the studentswho had been identified through an admissions test-ing program as being at the highest risk. In the pastthese two quarters of mathematics covered two levelsof algebra texts, the first quarter using an elementaiyalgebra text and the second quarter an intermediatealgebra text. This organizational structure had made itdifficult to cover the more advanced topics of theintermediate text because the intermediate text beganwith many of the same concepts that were containedin the elementary text. Furthermore, students resentedrepeating the same content though presented in aslightly different way. The new two quarter sequenceused the same intermediate text for both quarters butallowed more time to be spent on each topic. I hisarrangement allowed time for other activities to beincorporated into the course content.

In addition, a counselor joined the mathematicsteacher one day per week to explore topics not usuallyaddressed in math class. Initially this project wasdeveloped to reduce anxiety among the high risk stu-dents, but it was soon evident that there was a need toexpand the breadth of the program. Some of the activ-ities did focus on noncognitive variables related to

success, such as relaxation exercises and systematicdesensitization to reduce mathematics test anxiety.

lowever, a greater emphasis was placed on activitiesdesigned to encourage collaborative learning. Whenstudents work together they gain insights that mayhave eluded them when working alone. The majorityof these students prefer interactive learning to readingtextbooks or listening to lectures. flowever, some ofthem became uneasy and somewhat unsure of them-selves when the structure of the mathematics classwas changed. For most of the students, the morefamiliar they became with the group activities the bet-ter they liked them. One of the objectives of theseactivities was to encourage the students to work coop-eratively in their regular mathematics, not just for thespecial activities. the end of the first quarter manyof the students had become part of small groups thatstudied together on a regular basis. The collaborativeapproach has resulted in a better match betweenteaching and learning styles. Furthermore, studentswith low self-esteem tend to feel more comfortableworking in pairs or small groups, rather then present-ing their ideas before the entire class.

Additional activities were introduced that yvredesig led to enhance critical thinking and problemsolving skills. I he faculty decided to include someprobability problems because a number of the stu-dents in this math sequence will follow it directly withstatistics, rather than college algebra. Again the workwas done individually, in pairs, or in a small group.lhe students were encouraged to dissect problems

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and solve one part at a time. instead of one big prob-lem, which seemed too difficult, it was discovered thatthe problem was just a series of little parts that theycould handle. With each success the students becamemore positive about their own capabilities and lessnegative about their ability to do mathematics. Thegreatest change in attitude could be seen in the solv-ing of word problems. By the end of the course someof the students actually admitted that they could doword problems with more accuracy that many of theother topics.

During the second course the emphasis shifted tospatial visualization skills. A series of increasingly dif-ficult spatial activities was introduced over a period ofweeks. Individual students use different types of visu-al imagery in su..ing a variety of mathematical tasks.The objective was to prepare the students for activitiesthat required these spatial visualization skills, espe-cially graphing and concepts of symmetry.

The faculty used a wide variety of sources for theactivities introduced on Fridays. Dell Math Puzzlesand Logic Problems (1994) is a magazine publishedfour times per year that pa vides many interestingtypes of problems to help students develop higherlevel thinking skills. Most editions also include a pageof a series of problems that involve a combination ofword problems, logic, and visualization. DaleSeymour has authored a number of useful materials,including Critical Thinking Activities (Seymour &Beards lee, 1988). Two sources of vi!ivally-orientedactivities are Thinking Visually (McKim,1980) andSpatial Visualization (Winter, Lappan, Phillips, &Fitzgerald, 1986). In addition to the Dell magazine,sources of logic problems include Logic, Anyone?(Post & Eads, 1982) and 101 Puzzles in Thought andLogic (Wylie, 1957). The faculty used Probability(Phillips, Lappan, Winter, & Fitzgerald, 1986) as asource for activities to prepare students for statistics.Big Book of Games Il (1988) is a source of a variety oftypes of activities. Additional group activities, such asa murder mystery exercise, have been pulled fromcounseling and group dynamics resources, includingReaching Out (Johnson, 1972) and loinim_ToWher(Johnson & Johnson, 1975).

The activities introduced in this two coursesequence have been so successful that the mathemat-ics component is in the process of developing a coursethat would provide the opportunity for any student atthe university to develop problem solving skills.

Referenceseig book (198s). New York, NY: Workman

Publishing.

Dell Math Puzzh's and Logic Problems (1993). New York,NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell Magazines.

Johnson, D.W. (1972). Keachthg out. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice-I fall.

Johnson, D.W. & Johnson, F.P. (1975). Joining togetlwr.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-I fall.

McKim, R. (1980). Thinking visually. Palo Alto, CA: DaleSeymour Publications.

Phillips, E., Lappan, C., Winter, M., & Fitzgerald, W(1986). Prohibility. Menlo l'ark, CA.: Addison-WeskyPublishing.

Post, B. & Lads, 5. (19821. Lic. anyone? Carthage, IL .caron Teadling Aids.

Seymour, D., & Beardslee, L. 1988). Critical thinkiligties. Palo Alto, CA: Dale Semil(nir Publishing

Winter. M., Lamm, G.. Phillips, E. & Pazgerahl, VV. (1986).Spatial z'isualization. Menlo l'ark, CA : Addison-WesleyPublishing.

Wylie, C. (1957). 101 pilles in tkovht and ltpc.YorkNT.: Don't Plibluation,.

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38

SELECTLOCONE KFINICE PAPLI45. 1995

Developing Experiential LearningAssignments for Composition Courses

Edna M. Troiano

ABSTRACT

In order to meet the academic and professional needs of technological preparation (tech prep) students, working adult stu-dents, and traditional students intending to transfer to four year institutions, community colleges need to revise their tradi-tional composition courses. This paper discusses writing in the work place and offers pup- tumtraditional writing assign-nicnts.

During the last decade, several school-to-work initia-tives have developed, all designed to produce a bet-ter trained, better educated workforce while avoid-

ing duplication of effort. Many community colleges haveadded coops, apprenticeships, and career academics. Theinitiative with the greatest impact on two year colleges,however, is the technological preparation (tech prep) pro-gram offered by many public schools. Tech prep programstypically combine four years of high school with a two yearAssociate of Arts (A.A.) degree or certificate at a communitycollege.

The influx of tech prep students is a boon to communitycolleges, many of which have flat or declining enrollments;however, tech prep students from local public school sys-tems may have significantly different educational experi-ences than college preparatory students. Tech prep t I ts.uuen.sgenerally have more experience using computers, learningthrough varied technologies, learning through hands-onexperience, and far more work based learning experience.They are also more accustomed to self-paced and collabora-tive learning; they may be less accustomed to readingextended printed texts, listening to lectures, taking notes,and writing essays or research papers, the traditional staplesof academia. In addition to having different learning experi-ences and styles, tech prep students have different educa-tional needs than traditional college students, since theyintend to enter the work force in a technical field in twoYears

Writing Needs

In order to understand more clearly the future needs oftech prep students as well as the current need,' of working

adult students, five members of our department visited localwork sites (two hospitals, a nuclear power plant, two mili-tary bases, the phone company, the electric company, andthe police station) to talk with employers and employeesabout the writing skills and tasks crucial to their jobs.

Desirable Employee CharacteristicsEmployers at all the work sites talked about the traits

they need in their employees, as follows:

1. Life-long learners: Most sites we visited are changingat a dizzying pace. All employees will need on-going train-ing throughout their careers.

2. Flexible workers: As agencies downsize, demands onworkers to do tasks outside the traditional job descriptionand area of expertise increase.

3. Collaborative workers: Collaboration was importantat ever y. work site.

4. Problem solvers: Workers must think both creativevand critically, be good negotiators, and keep calm underpressure.

5. Workers comfortable with technology: Emergingtechnologies affected all work sites, and employersexpressed impatience with employees reluctant to adapt tochange.

Academic VersusProfessional Writing

When we asked employers and employees about thewriting they did and what preparation they thought col-

tuther r,t/orlat ton otita. t f,bia Al Trvnmo 1,Hiolave. t I rto,h.,. t 0,,1,111,1Ftv t oilev I., rad larul.m.1 21,v4r, 3,1.434 2211 f

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LECIIMMNI I HI NCI. PAPERS, I99S

leges should provide, we gained some interesting insights.The director of communications at one work-site, als..) a for-mer student of ours, pointed out the ironic contrast betweenacademic and professional writing. lier professors alwaysinsisted that she expand on her ideas, adding evidence andexamples; her employers always insisted that she producethe most concise text possible. She had, in fact, recently beenasked to revise the company mission statement, reducing itto a paragraph that would fit on a coffee mug. There weretwo lessons here: the importance of being concise, which weheard repeatedly, and the emergence of nontraditional texts(coffee mugs, in this instance).

Another communications director said that when col-lege students lack factual information or are uncertain, theyare encouraged to speculate and to make "educated guess-es." For him, one of the difficult yet necessary retrainings isteaching employees to say, "I don't know." lie also stressedthe importance of writing texts that are brief, complete, andunambiguous. lie feels that status in a company is nowgained by the most succinct, not the longest, reports.Efficiency of communiz:ation seems to be the new focus.

Use of Technology

Supervisors everywhere stressed using available tech-nology to communicate, including e-mail, electronic infor-mation sources, and graphics packages. They were equallyadamant about focusing clearly on the client in all commu-nications.

As a result of our work site visits, we decided to reviseour developmental and freshman composition courses toinsure that the coury.s wouid equally serve our studentswho will transfer to (our year institutions, our tech prep stu-dents, and our working adult students. Each of these groupsconstitutes about one third of our student population, someeting the needs of all three groups is essential.

Our work site visits reinforced our belief that we mustprovide students with ampl opportunities to use comput-ers for writing. We have taught some composition courses incomputer labs for almost a decade. I lowever, after our vis-its, we decided to (a) adopt a networked wordprocessingpackage, so students can electronically confer with theirprofessor or peers and receive and submit assignments elec-tronically, (h) develop assigoment disks for students in tra-ditional classrooms to use io open labs, and (c) add a graph-ics package to labs so students can make electronic presenta-tions.

Writing AssignmentsWe also developed several new assignments that would

foster both the traits and the writing skills employerssought. All four of the following assignments are collabora-tive, not because we believe all college writing should becollaborative, but because we already have numerous indi-vidual assignments.

Policy StatementGoals of this assignment are to help students write

clearly, succinctly, and completely; to encourage collabora-tion and negotiation; to foster problem solving; and to fosteraccountability.

At the beginning of the semester, choose a policy fromthe syllabus (e.g., attendance). Discuss some of the ramifica-tions of the issue and explain how you arrived at your poli-cy. Ask students to work in small groups to draft a clear pol-icy for the class. After discussing each policy, the class mustchoose the policy they wish to use. That policy thenbecomes an addendum to the syllabus, and students mustabide by it. At the end of the semester, students shouldrevisit their decision and make recommendations for futuresemesters.

Mission StatementThis assignment helps students synthesize information,

practice writing summaries; and foster collaboration.

l'rovide sample n.ission statements from the. college ordepartment or ask wo.-king students to bring samples toclass. Review the samples and other relevant docunwnts(e.g., department course masters, the textbook, the syllabus)Working in groups, students write a brief paper that clearkstates the mission of their composition course' Studentsshould reevaluate their mission statement at the end it thesemester.

Process PaperGoals of this assignment include. analv zing a ud ienc

needs; altering style, content, and format to meet audienceneeds; and incorpc.rating graphics with text.

Working in small groups, students analyze a processThey then present the process in one of these three forms(a) a brochure that contains text and graphics, suitable torsomeone who will use the process, (b) a feature for a localpaper, usually containing a human interest focus and quota-tions, or (c) a traditional college essay. The class then com-pares the documents and analyzes the ways in w !lichchanges in purpoce and audience. all. t the text

Definition PaperThe goals of this assignment are to Mine terms clear I, ,

to practice problem solving; to organize sequences, to participate. actively in the learning process; and to work collabora-tively.

Working in small groups, students des clop a guide tofinding and correcting fragments and run on sentence.. Iheguide must include. a clear definition of a correct sentence, arun on sentence, and a sentence. fragment Students shouldthen use their guide when editing subsequent papers

These assignments assist all students in preparing tortheir futures in the world of work, regardless of then c iirent status or academic preparation

35

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tif IFCTLI)CONFFRFNCt PAN:RS.149i

Supplemental Instruction's Impact on Affect:A Follow-up and Expansion

Julia N. Visor James I. JohnsonAndrea M. Schollaert ° Cynthia A. Good Mojab Debra Davenport

Abstract

We investigated the relat:onship betWeen the particzpation leivls of college students in three classes hosting Supplemental Instruction andtlze atfeitwe varilibles locus of control. selt-ettuacu, and self-esteem. 7 hough main/ findings id Iliq ri'ach ,foundsi-vcra/ trends. We did find that denloNrilphIC VarisiNeN Were SwPwriantly related to participation !cwt.

Fallowing up a previous study (Visor, Johnson, & Cole,1992), we sought to determine whether positivechange in certain affective variables was associated

with participation in Supplemental Instruction (SI), especial-ly with regard to college freshmer. These affectke variablesare locus of control, the feeling of being in charge of one'sown destiny, self-esteem, beliefs about one's worth as a per-son; and self-efficacy, bLliefs about one's ability to succeed ata given task. The findings of this study, because of morecomplex analysis than had been employed in the pre\ ionsstudy, turned up curious confounds.

INe pretested all students in an auditorium section of anintroductory psychology course and two auditorium sec-tions of an introductory economics course during the hrstweek of the 1994 tall semester and posttested them duringthe last week of classes. To allow comparison of results, wemeasured the affective variables using the same question-naires used in the previous study: Rotter's (197() Internal-FAternal Control Scale for locus of control, the Seff-eiticacyScale (Sherer. et al., 19S7), and I ludson's (19S7) Index ofSelf-esteem

Ilypotheses

Ve generated hypotheses for freshmen and upper lass-men regarding the relationship between level of participa-tion in SI and (a) initial affective characteristics and Hchanges in attective characteristics over the course of thesemester. IN: derived three categories of participation regillar participants, occasional participants, and nonpartici-pants. Regular participants are students who attended touror more Si sessions during the term. Occasional participaats

are students who attended one to three SI sessionsNonparticipants are students who did not attend any SI ses-sions.

Among both freshmen and upperclassmen we expectedregular participants to: (a) exhibit a greater internal locus ofcontrol, higher self-esteemInd greater self-efficacy thannonparticipants and occasional participants; (b) experience agreater decrease in self-esteem and self-efficacy than non-participants and occasional participants; and (c) experienceno change in locus of control compared to nonparticipantsand occasional participants. Among upperclassmen, weexpected that regular participants would not experience adecrease in self-esteem and self-efficacy compared to non-participants

Findings

Data did not support nit- hypotheses regarding the ini-tial !excl., ot affect. Ne%..rtheless, we did find ditferences,which we call trends, consistent %.ith the hypotheses.Among freshmen, regular participants tended to have (a)higher self-esteem than nonparticipant:, (b) greater self-effi-cacy than nonparticipants, and (c) greater internal locus ofcontrol than nonparticipants and occasional participantsAmong upperclassmen, regular participants tended to havela) higher selt-estecm. (b) greater self-efticacy, and (c)greater internal locus of control than nonparticipants andoccasional participants

tound significant results fo: only two hypothesesregarding change in . t te' t i vt haracteristics during thesemester Among Ire,hinen. regular participants, as hypoth-

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esized, did not experience any statistically significantchanges in locus of control relative to nonparticipants andoccasional participants. Also as expected, regular upper-classmen participants did not experience a statistically sig-nificant change in self-efficacy relative to nonparticipantsand occasional participants. We found trends regardingchanges in self-esteem among freshmen and upperclassmenthat were consistent with our hypotheses, but these findingswere not statistically significant.

Surprisingly, preliminary analyses revealed that stu-dents' participation level was significantly related to gender,racial and ethnic background, composite admissions testscore, and high school percentile rank. These demographicvariables represent non-random self-selection of studentsinto SI, therefore functioning as contounds that prevent usfrom identifying a causal relationship between participationin SI and changes in affect.

Questions for Further Study

More than giving solutions, this study raised additionalt o ins

1. Should we be examining a relationship betweenaffect and SI at all? After all, though it is important, affect,by its very nature, is very difficult to study. Our answer tothis question, of course, is yes! In both studies, we foundtrends, trends that we can believe in. In continued researchwe must look at why we found little significance.

2. Are locus of control, self-efficacy', and self-esteem theaffective variables we should be examining? When we firstbegan to study affect, we thought that locus of control, self-efficacy, and self-esteem were the most relevant affectivevariables related to SI. Both these variables and SI have beenrecognized as influencing achievement leading to persis-tence in higher education, so we want to continue to studythem.

3. What are the relationships of the significant demo-graphic confounds to our study? We will be anal% zing thatquestion in our follow-up study.

4. Based on objections best prescnted by Alhe Kohn119(94), should we be analyzing these affective s ariables inspecific contexts instead of more global contexts? That is, is"academic- affect different from at led in non-academicareas? Should we be asking whether self-efficacy in a psy-chology course is different from self-efficacy in a microeco-nomics course? And is it different in different courses for thesame student? What about self-esteem and locus of control'1Iow are they different in different venues? We have themeans to examine the two courses in our study separately,which we will do in follow-up research Also, we hove stud-ied only course's in the general education curriculum at ourinstitution Would these affective variables hiok different inlouNer, for majors?

Implications for Practice

What impact do any of these results have on the way SIis practiced? SI strives to get students to see a relationshipbetween participating regularly in SI and earning highercourse grades. Thus, program administrators want studentsto return to SI sessions. If students who have a more internallocus of control achieve greater self-efficacy in the SI sessionand, as a result, on the class tests, they would be more likelyto return to SI sessions. If they achieve greater self-esteemthat they attribute to SI, it is also more likely that theywould return.

If there are affective changes associated with beingfreshmen or upperclassmen, what will that mean for thelevel of courses offering SI? After analysis, if we find thatthere are affective changes associated with specific disci-plines or courses for a given student, what will that meanfor SI program administrators? What are the implicationsfor SI design? That is, given the forthcoming information,should SI supervisors and leaders be trained to know moreabout affect and how to engender positive change during SIsessions?

The demographic data to be analyzed in the follow-upstudy' will provide a more complex view of who regularlyand occasionally participates in SI and who does not.Participation ,:,roupings may have implications for how SIpersonnel market SI both to students and administrators.

We are really at the beginning of research in thisdomain. A previous study showed that students who regu-larly participated in SI have persisted in college better thanthe nonparticipants, but we arc still looking for all the rea-sons. We are looking for colleagues who can help us gener-ate useful hypotheses, colleague's who e .n help us interpretthe results, colleague's who can replicate this study on theircampuses, colleagues who can extend this research.

References

Iiii,1,011 IV LV bidel ot (1`q I /1 is Corcoran tr

I (Id, 0 !Cr L e .1 ',Oil rCtl'oo( p PIM

No:c lork I rel.

kohl' ,4 (1)1.mh, r 1000)40 Tile trial, Avid -ell-ereew Dc..11,1

kappau 272-2S

111c. Rol ter internal external tot:trot lq.7b1 In 1 )'har,..

.1,1 kf,!_"Ifflq ii ;fir f 175-1 Sin A10P,Ifou'il

prPlerfli I _earning Pre.

:qterer, ii Ala,1,1111. 1 1. Mer,atidarite, Ii S .

1.1,01N. Ii . Rcger,, R IV .,ale (SE 5)

L' / 1,iler I ,t. Med.,,,,tor ott,a;

?04 2no) lork I trt l'00,

1 N . / I . Cole. 1 N' i10'421 The relatioitur E'lifffritt f WO i'' I Ictirui.11 of 1.1,.....e!ornerstal 1.11,catIon,

it,121 12.1.q

37

AIL( I I 1)CONI LRLM. L PAPURN. 19,6

Mathematics Survival: A Linked Course

Gideon L. Weinstein

ABSTRACT

One of the services provided by our Learning Center to students attending our University is a credit bearing course onLearning Strategies for MatIwmatics. It is offered to any student concurrently enrolled in the introductory FiniteMathematics lecture course This paper will iliscuss the content and results of the course.

/n 1989, the Student Academic Center began to offera course linked to Finite Mathematics that hadbeen developed by the Linked Course Coordinator

for the Student Academic Center and the Basic SkillsCourse Coordinator for the Mathematics Department.The course has been continuously revised by themand the various graduate student associate ins ructorswho have taught the course over the years.

The Content Course

F:nite Mathematics is a required course for a vari-ety of non-math majors. Students with a wide range otmathematical aptitudes, skills, and attitudes takeFinite Mathematics, and many of them have difficultysucceeding. Several years ago a local study of gradeinflation found that Finite Mathematics had the lowestawarded grade point average of any class on campus.A large majority of the students enroll in FiniteMathematics are freshmen who attending lectures inhalls seating either 250 or 80 people. Many studentshave difficulty adapting to this new learning environ-ment and the high demands of the course. Not only isthe environment strange, but Finite Mathematicsenjoys a unique position in the college preparatoryand early college mathematics curriculum in that it is

outside the standard Algebra-Trigonometry-Calculussequence that most students spend several years com-pleting. I lowever, this newness works to our learningcenter's advantage. It allows a fresh start for studentsdisenchanted with their previous mathematics even-

011Hier

ences. We try to capitalize on the students' willingnessto be open-minded when it comes to learning mathe-matics by incorporating many activities for reading,writing, and communicating mathematics that are for-eign to most of our students' experiences.

The Survival Course

The survival course carries two elective credits,meets two and a half hours per week, and is open tostudents concurrently enrolled in any section of FiniteMathematics. A student who withdraws from the con-tent course must also withdraw from the survivalcourse. The academic advisors are asked to suggestthis class to students who wish to take FiniteMathematics but have Math Scholastic Aptitude Test(SAT) scores usually around 100 points below 530, theaverage for the class. Other criteria for recommenda-tion to the course are having previously failed orwithdrawn from a math course; having not taken amath course for the last year or more; perceiving one-self as having math an \iety; or fearing FiniteMathematics because ot its reputation.

The activities and assignments in the colirM2 areorganired annind two goals and three themes:

Goals

Fo introduce and reinforce active studying,learning, and reading -,trategies.

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St LECTE1) CONTI. RENCE PAPERS. 1995

2. To empower students to apply these strategiesto the math course content while receiving feedbackas to the quality and effectiveness of their work.

Themes

1. To understand mathematics material throughactive reading, critical thinking, conceptual explo-ration, self-monitoring and questioning, and orga-nized problem-solving techniques.

2. To communicate mathematics materialthrough writing, concept mapping, oral presentations,group projects, consensus building, and note taking.

3. To be aware of the effects of attitudes andbeliefs about mathematics on behavior and perfor-mance in mathematics.

These goals and themes are achieved through avariety of class assignments.

Finite Mathematics Homework

Finite Mathematics homework for this class is col-lected in our course and includes creating extra mater-ial to aid learning and studying. Supplementary workincludes such items as creating key concept cards,writing step-by-step descriptions of problem solving,creating concept/semantic/mind maps, and makingsummaries of book sections. Homework is reviewedand graded by peers to provide greater exposure todifferent ways of approaching and doing mathemat-ics.

Group Oral Presentations

Each week a small group meets and presents tothe class a review of important parts of the FiniteMathematics textbook sections that have been coveredrecently in lecture. Students are expected to meet sev-eral times as a group in preparation for the presenta-tion. Presenters answer questions from their class-mates and interactively engage the learners in solvingmath problems, asking and answering questions,defining math terms, and other similar tasks.Presenters are guides and facilitators. The emphasis ison engaging the participation of the learners and com-municating the mathematics in common languageinstead of speaking over the heads of the audieiice, asmany lecture hall instructors do.

Finite Mathematics Exam Preparation Projects

Students work in groups to create a multiplechoice quiz, complete with explanations of why thecorrect answer is right and the incorrect answers are

wrong. These projects help to prevent students fromchoosing "foils" on the multiple choice departmentalmidterm and final exams. The quiz is distributed tothe rest of the class so it can be used by all as practicefor the exams. Additionally, students learn valuabletest-taking skills by going through practice exams andidentifying the strategy or procedure that is appropri-ate for each question, without actually doing the prob-lem. This helps alleviate the common complaint that"The material looked like I'd never seen it before!"

Article Analysis Assignment

Each student is required to write a three to fivepage paper pertaining to a topic from one of variousarticles on reserve in the library. The topics all relate tothe studying, learning, and teaching of math, and thestudent chooses the article of greatest interest to them.

Survival Course Exams

Students are expected to apply a variety of strate-gies to a section of a math textbook, which includestaking notes ftorn a videotaped lecture and annotatingthe textbook pages, as well as taking a quiz over thematerial just covered to determine how effective theirapplication of learning strategies has been. Studentsalso engage in writing about and doing some mathproblem solving activities. In addition, studentsrespond with solutions to scenarios describing diffi-culties experienced by students in math lecture class-es. The final exam also requires students to engage ina very complete self-assessment of changes in theirbehaviors as students of math. Students must considerthe work they have done for the content and the sur-vival course and synthesizc references and informa-tion they have gleaned from their work to supporttheir conclusions concerning their behavioral changes(partly as measured by surveys taken at the beginningand end of the class).

Electronic Mail (E-mail) Assignments

Students have to learn how to use computer mailfor sending assignments to the instructor and to otherstudents. E-mail is used as another domain in whichstudents can practice communication of mathematics.Examples of some assignments are formulation ofquestions about material from the math textbook, andsending questions to the students doing the grouporal prewntat ions that week.

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stlICTIDCON1 1 51 M I PAPE KS. 194;

Other Class Requirements

The exact implementation of this portion of thecourse varies from instructor to instructor and semes-ter to semester, but some possibilities are listed below.

1. Learning Strategies: Each student is expected toapply various studying, learning, and textbook read-ing strategies. As the semester progresses, studentsare asked to evaluate the strategies in terms of theirown personal usefulness. The student becomes active-ly involved in a systematic approach to reading andstudying mathematics.

2. Lecture Note taking: Note taking methods otherthan "copy it all down" are discussed in class.Students are required to follow different systems oftaking notes and then synthesize th t. different meth-ods into a style that best meshes with their learningstyle.

3. Peer Math Problem Solving Groups:Periodically, math problem solving group meetingtimes are scheduled outside of class. These learninggroup meetings are facilitated by the instructor or anundergraduate peer teaching intern in order to fosterdevelopment of stronger math problem solving skills.

4. Time Management: The student may be expect-ed to complete several exercises concerning time man-agement and possibly use a computer software pro-gram on time management available at the StudentAcademic Center.

Results

In order to judge the efficacy of the survivalcourse, students from the survival course and stu-dents enrolled only in Finite Mathematics (matched inscores on standardized math tests) vere compared bytheir grades in Finite Mathematics. Records for fallterm for 19tiq through 191)3 indicate that the studentsenrolled in the survival course consistently earn moreAs and Bs and fewer Ds and Fs. Although the findingsfor each year are not all statistically significant, theyare encouraging. Hopefully, longitudinal and/or qual-itative studies of the students will provide a fuller pic-ture of the usefulness of the survival course.

NI I I II) L RI NCI. PAI'LRS. 199Z;

Connecting Mathematics to the Student's World:A Writing Assignment

Annette C. Williams

Abstract

Many developmental studies students in mathematics classes believe that they will never use the mathematics that they areasked to learn. A lording assignment that ini,olues interviewing a professor in the stnihmt's malor area is an el fed WC Way to

ctrni,trice the still/on that mathematics is ileCesSary and u:sel

Typical developmental studies students mustoften be convinced that they need to studymathematics, particularly algebra. Every devel-

opmental mathematics teacher has heard studentscomplain, "Where am I ever going to use this stuff?"The answer to this question is, of course, different forevery student. Through a writing assignment specifi-cally focused on this topic, students can find out someof the specific uses of mathematics in their own majorarea.

Students in three of my classes of developmentalalgebra wrote papers on how mathematics is used intheir chosen fields. They interviewed a faculty mem-ber in their major area as a part of their research. Oneinteresting observation is that not onc student voicedopposition to writing a paper in a matht matics class,perhaps because they perceived this as an easy way toearn points in a mathematics course. Another observa-hon is that only one professor of all those who wereinterviewed told a student that algebra would not beused in her career. This comment came from an ele-mentary education professor who perhaps did notconsider the great part that elementary school teach-ers play in preparing students for later mathematicsclasses, including teaching basic algebraic concepts.Aerospace majors discovered how important formulascan be when flight panel instruments fail. .1 heatermajors learned about the engineering involved in fig-uring sound and light calculations. Recording indus-try majors learned of the algebra involved in calculat-ing record contracts. Agriculture majors d e red

I h

formulas for mixing feeds, for computing soil erosion,and mixing various pesticides and herbicides.

As an instructor I benefited in several ways fromthis assignment. I learned more about my students; Icould relate to them as individuals because I knewmore about their interests. I learned many ways torelate the material that I teach to the course work andcareers of the students. This assignment provided mewith a wealth of information to answer questions ofrelevance.

In another assignment that I have used with myclasses for four semesters, I asked students to writeabout applications of mathematics, particular(y alge-bra and geometry, that they had used in non-mathe-matics classes or in their jobs. They were instructed toexplain each example in enough detail for me tounderstand the application. Students turned in manyexamples that were beyond the experiences of mostmath teachers. There were examples of mathematicsin mditary manuals, aerobics instruction, aerospace,a n a tom v, agriculture, homemaking, truck loading,

interior design, stage management, nursing,economics, and business. I received large amounts ofinformation that I now use to enrich my courses.

I graded these assignmen:s primarily on contentand adherence to the rules of the assignment; I did notintend to try to be an English instructor. For a mathe-matics teacher, just taking the plunge and assigning apaper in a mathematics class may be the hardest partof the process (Sterrett, l9)2). Students should he

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SELECTED CONFERENCE PAPERS, /995

shown an example of what is expected of them andencouraged to give proper credit to their sources.

Developmental students need to see relevance inwhat they are asked to learn. By writing about theirmajor areas of interest and by interviewing professors,my students learned how they would use their mathskills. The examples of mathematics used in othercourses have enriched my teaching by inserting thatcrucial element of pertinence.

Reference

Sterrett, A. (1992). Forward. In A. Sterrett (Ed.), Using,wri.teach mathematics (p. xv). Washington, DC:Mathematical Associatitm of America.

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s;

Patricia L DwincllAssociate ProfessorUniversity Of Georgia20 I Clark Howell IlanAthens GA 30602-3334

A-8